PRIMER 


Edited  by 

Paui       cefter  Ford 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


FROM   THE   LIBRARY  OF 

JOHN  F.  ROSS 


THE 

NEW-ENGLAND    PRIMER 


.ivcEarmy  Ehildrcnto  my  words 
whomG-od  bath  dearjy  bought, 
up  his  Laws  within  your   Hearts,' 
aud  Print  them 'in  your  Thoughts. 
I  leave  yon  here  a  little  £ook, 

for  you  to  look  upon, 
That  you  mty  fee  your  Fathers  Face, 
when  he  is  IDead    and  gone. 

Burning  of  John  Rogers 
(From  the  "  New  English  Tutor"   [1-01-1714?]) 


NEW-ENGLAND 
PRIMER 

A     REPRINT    OF    THE     EARLIEST     KNOWN 
EDITION,    WITH    MANY   FACSIMILES 
AND    REPRODUCTIONS,    AND 
AN    HISTORICAL    IN- 
TRODUCTION 

Edited  by   PAUL  LEICESTER   FORD 


NEW    TORK 
Dodd,   Mead  and   Company 
M  dccc  xc  ix 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  years  1897  and  1899, 

by   »ODI>,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY,  in  the   Office  of 

the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 


DEDICATED 

T0 

.Mr.    Cornelius    Vanderbilt 

IN     GRATEFUL 
RECOGNITION     OF    COURTESIES 

TO    THE     EDITOR 
IN      THE      USE      OF      HIS 

Co  II  e  ctlo  n 


NEW    ENGLAND   PRIMERS 


PrefuJent  e>f 
States 


Portrait  of  George  Washington 

(From  the  "New  England  1'rinu-r."       Hoston  :    [i~Sy  ?]) 


I 


INTRODUCTION 

N   the  apocryphal   poem  of  John 

Rogers     "  unto     his      children,"    T^NewEnj 

which  was  included  in  every  New    land  Pnmer 

yt .         i    r»    •  1-1  a  mirror  of 

England  Primer,  he  said  :  Puritanism 

"  I  leave  you  here  a  little  booke 

For  you  to  Icoke  -vpon^ 
That  you  may  see  \our  Jather^  s  face 
When  I  am  dead  and  gon." 

No  better  description  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Primer  itself  could  be  penned. 
As  one  glances  over  what  may  truly 
be  entitled  "  The  Little  Bible  of  New 
England,"  and  reads  its  stern  lessons, 
the  Puritan  mood  is  caught  with  abso- 
lute faithfulness.  Here  was  no  easy 


Introduction 


road  to  knowledge  and  to  salvation ; 
hut  with  prose  as  bare  of  beauty  as  the 
whitewash  of  their  churches,  with 
poetry  as  rough  and  stern  as  their 
storm-torn  coast,  with  pictures  as  crude 
and  unfinished  as  their  own  glacial- 
smoothed  boulders,  between  sti!l  oak 
covers,  which  symbolized  the  contents, 
the  children  were  tutored,  until,  from 
being  unregeneratc,  and  as  Jonathan 
Edwards  said,  "young  vipers,  and 
infinitely  more  hateful  than  vipers"  to 
God,  they  attained  that  happy  state 
when,  as  expressed  by  Judge  Sewall's 
child,  they  were  afraid  they  "  should 
goe  to  hell,"  and  were  "  stirred  up 
dreadfully  to  seek  God."  No  earthly 
or  heavenly  rewards  were  offered  to 
its  readers.  The  Separatists  had 
studied  their  Bible  too  carefully  not  to 


Inside  Binding  of  the  "  New  England  Primer "  (Boston:  1762) 


Introduction 


know  that  a  future  life  of  bliss  was  far 
more  an  instinctive  longing  of  man- 
kind than  an  Old  Testament  promise. 
They  were  too  imbued  with  the  faith 
of  Judaism  not  to  preach  a  religion  of 
stern  justice,  and  the  oldest  Puritan 
literature  and  even  laws  read  strangely 
Hebraic  to  nineteenth  century  eyes. 
The  religion  of  Christ,  a  faith  based 
on  love  and  mercy,  received  less  sym- 
pathy and  less  teaching,  from  their 
divines  than  probably  from  any  other 
sect  nominally  Christian.  Salvation 
from  hell  was  what  they  promised ; 
while,  to  make  this  boon  the  greater, 
the  horrors  and  tortures  were  magni- 
fied and  dwelt  upon ;  and  that  the 
terror  might  be  the  greater,  God  was 
made  sterner  and  more  cruel  than  any 
living  judge,  that  all  might  be  brought 


4  Introduction 


to  realize  how  slight  a  chance  even 
the  least  erring  had  of  escaping  eternal 
damnation. 

But  in  this  very  accentuation  of  the 
danger  lay  the  strength  of  Puritanism. 
No  mass  or  prayer,  no  priest  or  pastor, 

.     .  i      i  •       *-f 

stood  between  man  and  his  Creator, 
each  soul  being  morally  responsible 
for  its  own  salvation;  and  this  tenet 
forced  every  man  to  think,  to  read,  to 
reason.  As  the  Reformation  became 
possible  only  when  the  Bible  was 
cheapened  bv  printed  versions,  so  the 
moment  each  man  could  own  and 
study  the  Book,  Puritanism  began. 
Unless,  however,  man  could  read,  in- 
dependence was  impossible,  for  illit- 
eracy compelled  him  to  relv  upon 
another  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
Word  ;  and  thus,  from  its  earliest  in- 


Introduction 


ccption,  Puritanism,  for  its  own  sake, 
was  compelled  to  foster  education. 
Probably  no  better  expression  of  this 
fact  can  be  found  than  in  an  order  of 
the  "  General  Corte"  of  the  Colony  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bav,  in  1647,  that: 

"  It  being  one  cheife  piect  of  y'  ould 
deludcr,  Satan,  to  kecpe  men  from  the  Resolve  of 
knowledge  of  ye  Scriptures,  as  in  formr  times 
by  keeping  y'n  in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  in 
these  lattr  times  by  pswading  from  ye  use 
of  tongues,  y'  so  at  least  yu  true  sence  &  7677 
meaning  of  yc  originall  might  be  clouded  by 
false  glosses  of  saint  seeming  deceivers,  y' 
learning  may  not  be  buried  in  y°  grave  of 
or  fathrs  in  ye  church  &  comonwealth,  the 
Lord  assisting  or  endeavors,  — 

It  is  therefore  ord'ed,  \rt  evry  towneship 
in  this  jurisdiction,  aftr  yc  Lord  hath  in- 
creased ym  to  yc  number  of  50  household", 
shall  then  forthwth  appoint  one  \vtl;in  their 


6  Introduction 

towne  to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall 
resort  to  him  to  write  &  reade."  1 

Independency,  no  less  than  Papacy 
Danger  of  in-  and  Episcopacy,  was  able  to  foresee 
dependency  ^  (jan,,er  of  individualism  in  that  it 

and  Necessity  fc  . 

for  conform-    threatened   to    result    in    a   man's    net 
'0'  finding   in  the  Bible  the  one   belief  by 

which  alone  the  Puritans  held  he  could 
be  saved.  Think  for  himself  he  must, 
but  it  was  his  duty  to  think  what  the 
Separatists  thought,  and  so  churches 
were  gathered,  and  "  teachers  "  —  as 
they  were  first  called  —  were  chosen, 
who  told  their  congregations  what 
they  were  to  think  for  themselves. 
Very  quickly  organized  sects  followed, 
which  formulated  creeds  and  cate- 
chisms, demanded  belief  in  them,  and 

1   "Records  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,"  n.,  203. 


Introduction 


tortured,  imprisoned  and  exiled  the 
recalcitrant,  finding  that  other  men, 
like  themselves,  could  not  be  made  by 
punishment  to  accept  other  than  their 
own  opinions,  the  children  were  taken 
in  their  earliest  years,1  and  drilled  and 
taught  to  believe  what  they  were  to 
think  out  for  themselves  when  the  age 
of  discretion  was  reached.  And  this 
was  the  function  of  the  New  England 
Primer.  With  it  millions  were  taught 
to  read,  that  they  might  read  the  Bible  ; 
and  with  it  these  millions  were  cate- 
chised unceasingly,  that  they  might 
find  in  the  Bible  only  what  one  of 
many  priesthoods  had  decided  that 
book  contained. 


1  John  Trumbull,  the  poet,  records  of  himself  that 
"  before  he  was  two  years  old,  [he]  could  say  by  heart 
all  the  verses  in  the  '  Primer.'  " 


8  Introduction 


THIS  method  of  securing  uni- 
formity by  uniting  alphabet 
and  creed  was  as  old  as  printed 
books.  The  Enschede  Abecedarium, 
which  has  even  been  claimed  to  be  the 
first  specimen  of  printing  with  tvpe, 
and  which  certainly  was  printed  in  the 
fifteenth  century,1  contained  besides 
the  alphabet,  the  Pater  Noster,  the  Ave 
Maria,  the  Credo,  and  two  prayers, 
being  the  elementary  book  of  the  Rom- 
ish Church.  So  too,  a  larger  book 
of  Catholicism,  for  more  advanced 
students,  was  the  well-known  "  Book 
of  Hours  "  ;  which,  translated  from  the 
Latin  text  into  English,2  was  called 
"•  The  Prvmer  of  Salisbury  use  ",  and 
was  printed  as  early  as  1490.  As 

1    DC  Vinne's  "Invention  of  Printing,"  290. 

-   "The  Prymer  ot  Salysbury  use."     Paris  :  1490. 


iPRIMERl 

^  Enlarged.  Q 

jp^For  fhe  more  eafy  attaining  the  true* 
Reading  of  ENGLISH 

To  which  wadded, 
The  Af&mbly  of  Divines 

Catechifm. 


N.-  Printed  by  3T, 
and  Sold  by  the  bookfeUcrs,  1737.! 


Introduction 


in-ed    hardly   be   said    there   are   many 
later  editions  of  both   these  works. 

When    the    Reformation    began    to 
work    among  the   people   in    England,    Henry 
among  its  signs  was  the  appearance  of     yulth's 

?.?.  i     i-  T  i          Prymers  and 

unauthorized  primers,  and  Henry  the  A  B  Cs 
VIII.  issued  "proclamations"  and 
"  injunctions "  against  these,  in  an 
endeavor  to  keep  his  people  true  to 
Catholicism.  Very  soon,  however, 
he  experienced  a  change  of  heart  not 
merely  towards  his  wedded  wife,  but 
incidentally  as  well,  towards  his 
mother  church,  and  in  1534,  as  one 
method  of  fighting  the  Pope,  he  allowed 
to  be  prepared  and  issued  what  is 
known  as  the  "  Reform  Primer ",! 

1  "A  Prymer  in  Englyshe  with  certeyne  prayers 
and  goodly  meditations,  very  necessary  for  all  people 
that  understonde  not  the  Latyne  tongue.  Cum 
privilegio  Regali."  [London,  1534.] 


i  o  Introduction 


designed  to  teach  his  people  what  they 
should  believe.  In  this,  however,  his 
desire  to  have  done  with  the  Church 
of  Rome,  led  him  to  act  too  hastily, 
for  in  less  than  a  year,  he  varied  his 
belief  and  licensed  the  issue  to  his 
people  of  a  "  Goodly  Prymer  in  Eng- 
lysshe "  1  that  they  might  know  the 
only  true  and  revised-to-date  religion. 
Yet  again  new  light  came  to  the 
head  of  the  English  church,  and  in  a 
third  primer,  known  as  the  "  Henry 
VHIth  Primer  ",2  the  King  marked  out 

1  "A  goodly  Prymer  in  Englysshe,  newly  cor- 
rected and  printed,  with  certeyne  godly  Meditations 
and  Prayers  added  to  the  same,  very  necessarie  and 
profitable  for  all  them  that  ryghte  assuredly  under- 
stande  not  ye  Latine  and  Greke  tongues.  Cum 
privilegio  regali."  [London,  1535.] 

-  "  The  Primer  set  forth  by  thi  King's  Majesty, 
and  his  Clergy  to  be  taught,  learned,  and  read  and  none 
other  be  used  throughout  all  his  dominions.  1545- 
Cum  privilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum." 


mecm 

f  02  cfMiDjcn,af 
ttcthcDftof 


Introduction 


1 1 


a  new  and  only  path  to  heaven  for  his 
subjects.  All  these  primers  contained 
portions  intended  for  "  beginners  ", 
such  as  "  a  fruitful  and  very  Christian 
instruction  for  children  ",  and  since 
the  Romish  Church  had  a  preliminary 
book  to  its  Prymer,  so  Henry  had  his, 
called  "The 'A  B  C  'V  the  earliest 
known  copy  of  which  contains  the 
alphabet,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Hail 
Mary,  the  Creed,  various  Graces  for 
before  and  after  "dyner"  and  for 
*•'  fvsshe  dayes  ",  and  the  "  ten  com- 
aundements ".  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  was  well  indicated  by 
a  little  poem  at  the  end  of  the  ABC2 
printed  in  black  letter  in  1636  : 

1    "The  ABC  bothe  in  Latyn   and  in  Englysh." 
[London,   153^.] 

-  "The  A  B  C.    The  Catechism  :  That  is  to  say, 


1 2  Introduction 

This  little  Catecbismc  learned 

by  heart  (for  so  it  ought) 

The  Primer  next  commanded  is 

for  Children  to  be  taught. 

As  was  not  surprising,  many  of  the 
spread <f  d'u-  King's  subjects  became  somewhat 
sent  and  di-  unsettled  in  their  belief,  and  even  de- 

i-frstly  of  .  .  ' 

Primers  veloped  a  tendency   to   form   one  not 

ordained  by  his  majesty.  Furthermore 
these  wayward  people  declined  to  use 
the  primers  printed  "  cum  privilegio 
regali  "  but  purchased  heretical  books 
put  forth  without  authority,  so  that 
Henry  in  the  preface  of  his  later 
primers,  took  notice  in  evident  disgust 
"  of  the  diversitie  of  primer  books 
that  ar  now  abrod,  whereof  ar  almost 


An  Instruction  to  be  taught  and  learned  of  every 
Childe,  before  he  be  brought  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Bishop."  [London  ?  1636.] 


Royal  Primer; 

Or,  an  eafy  and  plenfant 


Or,  an  eafy  ^nd  plenfant 
Guide  to  the  Art  of  Reading. 

AuthonVrf  by 

His  MAJESTY  King  GSORGE  II. 

To  be  ofed  throughout 

Hu  MAJESTY'*  DOMINIONS.) 

Adom'rf  wkfi  C  u  -f  s. 


tnJan :  Prit^ttrf  fbr  7.  Ntivktry,  at  the  £i'£/t 
anH  5*a,  in  St.  PaaFt  Church  yard,  and 
^.  Co/tint  it  Satijturf,  (Prici?  hound  3  d.) 


A  GUIDE. 

FOR  THE 

Child  and  Youth, 

In  Two  Parts. 

The  Flrfl.for  CHILDREN: 

Containing  plain  and  pleafant  Directions 

to  read  ENGLISH. 

With  Prayers,  Graces,  and  Inftru&ons 

fitted  to  the  Capacity  of  Children. 

Tbs  Second,  for  YOUTH: 

Teaching  to  Wrice,  Caft  Account,  and 
Read  more  perfectly, 

With  fevcra)  other  Varieties  >  both 
plea  fane  and  profitable. 


T.  H.  M.  A.  Teacher  of  a  private  School 


London  s  Printed  by  /.  Roberts f  for  the 
Company  of  Stationers.    1725. 


Introduction  1 3 

innumerable  sortes,  which  mynister 
occasion  of  contentions  and  vain  dis- 
putations, rather  then  to  edify  ".  To 
end  this  difficulty  he  commanded 
"  one  uniforme  ordre  of  al  such  bookes 
throughout  al  our  dominions,  both  to 

o  7 

be  taught  unto  children  and  also  to  be 

used   for   ordinary    prayers    of  all   our 

people  not  learned  in  the  latyn  tong  ", 

and  for  that  purpose, 

"  set  furth  thys  Primer  or  boke  of  prayers 

in  Englysh  to   be  frequented   and    used    in    Henry 

and  throughout  all  places  of  oure  said  realmes    milk's 

and  dominions,  as  well  of  the  elder  people,    ''">»^» 

.        r  .     .  concerning 

as  also  of  the  youth,  for  their  common  pr;mers 
and  ordinary  prayers,  willing,  commaund- 
yng  and  streghtly  chargyng  that  for  the 
better  bringing  up  of  youth  in  the  know- 
ledge of  theyr  duty  towardes  God,  their 
prince,  and  all  others  in  their  degre,  every 
Scholemaster  and  bringer-up  of  yong  begin- 


1 4  Introduction 


ncrs  in  lernyng  ncxte  after  their  A  B  C  now 
hi  us  also  set  turthe,  do  teache  this  primer 
or  hoke  of  ordinary  prayers  unto  them  in 
Englyshe,  and  that  the  youth  customably 
and  ordinarily  use  the  same  until  thci  be  of 
compeumt  understanding  and  knowledge  to 
perceive  it  in  Latyn.  At  which  time  they 
may  at  their  libertie  either  u^e  this  primer 
in  Englishe,  or  that  whiche  is  by  oure 
authoritie  likewyse  made  in  the  Latyn  tong, 
in  all  poinctes  correspondent  unto  this  in 
Englysche."  1 

This  injunction  it  is  needless  to  say 
was  little  needed.  The  English  King 
could  depose  the  vicegerent  of  Heaven, 
even  though  the  latter  was  infallible, 
but  he  could  not  overcome  the  com- 
mon people.  Faiths  and  Creeds  mul- 


1    "The    Prymer   both    in    Englishe   and    Latin." 
[London,  1545.] 


Introduction  1 5 

tiplied  until  the  famous  Council  of 
Trent  complained  of  the  "  infinite  " 
number  of  the  "  little  books  "  and 
complained  that  there  had  come  to  be 
"  as  many  catechisms  as  there  are  prov- 
inces in  Europe,  nay,  almost  as  many 
as  the  cities,  are  circulated,  all  of 
which  abound  with  heresies,  whereby 
the  minds  of  the  simple  are  deceived." 
Their  majesties  Henry,  Edward,  Mary, 
Elizabeth  and  James,  though  each 
having  a  different  faith,  successively 
forbade,  seized  and  burned  these  un- 
authorized books  ;  and  whipped,  im- 
prisoned or  burned  preachers  and 
printers,  but  it  was  all  unavailing,  and 
a  little  over  a  century  and  a  half  from 
the  time  that  Henry  changed  the 
religion  of  his  country,  the  people 
decided  that  it  was  easier  to  change 


1 6  Introduction 

their  King  than  to  conform  in  their 
religion.  With  the  flight  of  James 
II.  ended  all  attempts  to  prevent  the 
people  from  having  such  primers  and 
catechisms  as  they  chose,  leaving 
behind  nothing  but  a  restriction  in 
the  printing  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  to 
this  day  are  monopoly  books  in  Great 

Britain. 

* 


* 


andunautbor- 
ixed  Primers 


T 


authorized   primers  were 
not     true    school  -  books,    be- 


d  Primr  -«-  & 


1          f  u 

and  A  B  c  "primer  —  manuals  or  church  ser- 
vice, and  indeed  the  forerunners  of  the 
u  Book  of  Common  Prayer".  More- 
over they  were  handsomely  printed,  and 
thus  were  expensive.  The  authorized 


Introduction  \  7 

ABC,  which  sold  at  a  moderate  price, 
contained  but  the  most  elementary 
matter.  It  must  have  very  quickly 
occurred  to  booksellers  that  to  com- 
bine the  two  into  one  work  would 
be  a  good  idea,  but  as  they  were  both 
monopoly  books  most  printers  were 
debarred  from  doing  it  and  to  the 
privileged  printers  there  was  no  ob- 
ject in  producing  them  at  a  low 
price.  It  was  left,  therefore,  to  the 
publishers  of  Separatist  persuasion,  to 
take  advantage  of  the  larger  sale  that 
could  be  obtained,  and  very  quickly 
they  were  issuing  at  low  prices,  books 
which  contained  the  sum  of  both  ;  and 
no  doubt  this  cheapness  and  conveni- 
ence played  a  prominent  part  in  the 
spread  of  dissent.  It  was  this  union 
of  the  ABC  and  the  Primer,  which 


1 8  Introduction 

led    to   children's   books    being    called 
by   the   latter   title. 

The  earliest  of  this  combination 
Union  of  the  of  school-book  and  catechism,  so  far 
p,,™.rW  discover^  js  Bastingius'  " Cate- 
chisme  of  Christiane  Religion,  taught 
in  scholes",  which  had  the  ABC 
prefixed  to  it,  and  was  printed  in 
Edinburgh  in  1591.  In  1631  Bishop 
Bedell's  catechism  was  printed  in 
Dublin,  in  the  same  manner.  "The 
ABC.  The  Catechism :  That  is 
to  say,  an  instruction  to  be  taught 
and  learned  of  every  Childe "  was 
printed  in  1636.  Ten  years  later 
the  "Catechism  for  young  Children 
appointed  by  act  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  "  was  issued  with  the  A 
B  C,  probably  in  Edinburgh.  In 
England  more  care  had  to  be  taken, 


Introduction  1 9 

for  as  late  as  1666,  one  Benjamin 
Keach  was  tried  for  writing  "  The 
Child's  Instructor,  or  a  New  and 
Easy  Primer ",  which  contained  a 
catechism  with  leanings  towards  ana- 
baptism  ;  but  though  the  author  was 
sentenced  to  the  pillory,  the  book 
was  constantly  republished.  A  little 
later,  in  1670,  George  Foxe  issued 
his  "Primer  and  Catechism"  "with 
several  delightful  Things "  intended 
to  make  a  Quaker  of  the  student. 

One    of    the   gravest    difficulties    to 
the  early   Separatists  in  both  Old  and    The  eariy 
New   England,    was    the    question  of    catechising  of 
what    catechism    to   teach   their    chil-  '„    ,e""v, 

hnglanaers 

dren.  During  the  voyage  of  the 
Arbella  the  Puritans  were  catechised 
by  their  clergyman  on  Sunday,  while 
no  sooner  were  they  landed  than  the 


2O  Introduction 


Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  made 
a  contract  with  sundry  "  intended 
ministers"  for  "catechising,  as  also 
in  teaching,  or  causing  to  be  taught 
the  Companyes  servants  &  their  chil- 
dren, as  also  the  salvages  and  their 
children  ",J  and  in  this  same  year 
(1629)  they  voted  the  sum  of  three 
shillings  for  "  2  dussen  and  ten  cate- 
chismes  ".2  It  cannot  certainly  be 
known  to  what  particular  catechism 
these  allusions  refer,  but  it  was  prob- 
ably the  one  composed  by  "  that 
famous  divine "  William  Perkins, 
preacher  of  St.  Andrews  Church  in 
Cambridge,  catechist  for  some  time 
of  Christ  college,  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  Calvinists  of  the 

1   "  Records  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  i.,  376. 
-   Ibid,  i.,   3-h. 


Introduction  2 1 

period.  First  printed  in  I59O,1  this 
catechism  ran  through  many  editions 
in  England,  was  republished  with 
additions  by  John  Robinson  for  the 
use  of  the  pilgrims,  and  later  was 
reprinted  in  New  England. 

Very     quickly     after     the     Puritan 
settling    in    America   a    tendency   de-   Neglect  of  the 
veloped     towards     the      individualism    Catechism  in 

i'ii  111-  i  -11       NOD  E  ng- 

implied  by  all  dissent  and  especially  /anj 
by  Congregationalism.  As  a  result 
of  this  diversity  of  belief,  Lechford 
states  that  catechising  was  generally 
abandoned  in  many  of  the  New  Eng- 
land churches,  and  to  meet  the  woe- 
ful condition  the  "  General  Corte " 
in  1641  "desired  that  the  elders 
would  make  a  Catechisme  for  the 

1  "The  Foundations  of  Christian  Religion,  gath- 
ered into  sixe  Principles.  Printed  by  Thomas  Orwin 
for  John  Porter,  1590." 


22 


Introduction 


instruction  of  youth  in  the  grounds 
of  religion  ",1  as  well  as  consider 
"howe  farr  the  magistrates  are  bound  to 
interfere  for  the  prcservacon  of  that 
vniformity  &  peace  of  the  churches  ". 
The  request  was  only  too  readily 
Multiplica-  responded  to  and  in  the  period  of 
1641-1684  the  reverend  "teachers" 
Hugh  Peters,  Edward  Norris,  Ezekiel 
Rogers,  John  Davenport,  John 
Cotton,  John  Eliot,  Thomas  Shepard, 
Richard  Mather,  John  Eiske,  John 
Norton,  Seaborn  Cotton,  James  Eitch, 
Samuel  Danforth,  James  Noyes,  and 
Samuel  Stone,  each  prepared  one  or 
more  catechisms.  In  fact  it  is  prob- 
able that  every  New  England  minis- 
ter formulated  his  own  faith  in  this 
manner,  and  at  first  thought  it  would 

1    "  Records  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  i.,   328. 


Introduction  2  3 

seem  to  have  been  not  a  little  trying 
to  a  congregation,  on  the  death  of 
a  trusted  shepherd  who  had  properly 
inducted  them  in  his  own  belief,  to 
get  accustomed  to  the  doctrines  of 
a  new  incumbent.  This  difficulty 
was  for  the  most  part  avoided  by 
the  general  knowledge  of  what  each 
clergyman  thought,  so  that  only  one 
in  fairly  close  accord  with  the  con- 
gregation was  considered.  When  a 
mistake  occurred,  and  the  "  Teacher  " 
was  found  to  run  counter  to  his 
church,  they  hastened  to  get  rid  of 
him,  which  resulted  in  the  innumer- 
able church  quarrels  and  the  schism 
with  which  New  England  so  abounded. 
Long  after  Cotton  Mather  asserted 
with  evident  pride  that  "  few  Pastors 
of  Mankind  ever  took  such  pains  at 


24  Introduction 

Catechising  as  have  been  taken  by  our 
Resulting         New  English   Divines  :   Now,  let  any 

quarrels  and       Mafi     jj-  ^      ^Q     mQ^      judicious 

schisms  until  J 

the  adoption  and  elaborate  Catechisms  published, 
of  the  shorter  a  lesser  an<j  a  larger  by  Mr.  Norton, 
a  lesser  and  a  larger  by  Mr.  Mather, 
several  by  Mr.  Cotton,  one  by  Mr. 
Davenport,  one  by  Mr.  Norris,  one 
by  Mr.  Noyes,  one  by  Mr.  Fisk, 
several  by  Mr.  Eliot,  one  by  Mr. 
Seaborn  Cotton,  a  large  one  by  Mr. 
Fitch  ;  and  say  whether  true  Divinity 
were  ever  better  handled."1  As  a 
fact,  however,  this  very  multiplicity 
of  catechisms  tended  only  to  increase 
the  schism  and  the  New  English 
clergy  spent  their  energies  in  prepar- 
ing catechisms  and  quarrelling  over 
them  rather  than  in  attempting  the 

1  Mather's  Magnalia,  book  5,  p.  3. 


T  H  E 

• 

New-England     f 
I  P  R  I  M  E  R  I 

§  § 

t  Improved.  £ 

For  the  more  eafy  attaining  the  rrue^ 
Reading  of  Engliih.  § 

$  To  which  is  added,  ,& 

|The  Affemhiy  of  Divmes,| 

f      and  Mr.  COTTON^S       4 
&  .  § 

|        Catechifm.        | 

f  QQ^OC^Od^OOQOOC^Q   I1 

"    *y» 

f^BOSTON:  Primed  and  Sold  by  § 
^    S.ADAM^,  in  £)ueen-Jlreet.    1762,    *§* 


Introduction  2  5 

"  instruction  of  youth  "  and  the  "  vni- 
formity  and  peace  of  the  churches  ". 
John  Cotton,  though  responsible  him- 
self for  so  much  of  the  disputation, 
was  forced  to  acknowledge  that  "the 
excellent  and  necessary  use  of  cate- 
chising young  men,  and  novices,  .  .  . 
we  willingly  acknowledge  :  But  little 
benefit  have  wee  scene  reaped  from 
set  forms  of  questions,  and  answers 
by  one  Church,  and  imposed  by 
necessity  on  another  "-1  Not  till  the 
great  Westminster  Assembly  formu- 
lated its  longer  and  shorter  catechisms, 
did  the  New  England  Churches  find 
a  common  faith,  and  even  then,  as  the 
work  of  Presbyterians  and  not  Con- 
gregationalists,  they  were  accepted 

1   Cotton's  "  A  Modest  and  Cleere  Answer  to  Mr. 
Ball's  Discourse."      London,  1642. 


2  6  Introduction 

only  by  degrees,  not  because  they 
were  generally  approved,  but  because 
they  were  the  only  escape  from  a 
tendency  that  threatened  to  break 
each  congregation  into  fractions  too 
small  for  existence  as  a  church. 


* 
*    * 


UCH  was  the  condition  of  school- 
The  New          ^^     books  and  catechisms,  when  the 

New  England  Primer  was  first 
published.  Its  authorship  and  date  of 
issue  have  hitherto  been  mysteries 
which  have  resisted  the  research  of 
all  antiquarians,  but  it  is  at  last  pos- 
sible to  give  the  main  facts  concern- 
ing its  origin. 

In   the   reign   of    King   Charles    of 
"  merrie  "     memory,     one     Benjamin 


Introduction  2  7 

Harris  began  printing  in  London  "  at 
the  Stationers  Arms  in  Sweethings  Benjamin 
Rents,  near  the  Royal  Exchange ",  Harris, 
otherwise  described  as  "  the  Stationers 
Arms  under  the  Piazza  in  Cornhill  ". 
Here  he  issued,  between  the  years 
1676  and  1 68 1  many  tracts  and 
broadsides  of  so  little  moment  that 
his  name  finds  no  mention  in  any 
biographical  dictionary  or  history  of 
printing.  But  aside  from  his  calling, 
Harris  deserves  notice  as  a  confirmed 
scribbler,  resembling  Mr.  Wegg,  in 
his  tendency  to  drop  into  verse.  To 
this  was  added  an  ardent  love  for  the 
protestant  religion,  and  an  equal  hatred 
of  the  Pope  and  all  that  he  implied. 

So  long  as  the  printer  limited  his 
activity  to  the  writing  and  printing  of 
ballads  and  tracts  against  the  Pope  and 


2  8  Introduction 

the  Jesuits  under  such  titles  as  u  The 
Harris  Grand  Imposter"  and  "The  Mystery 

brought  to  f  iniqujty  »  all   went   well  with  him, 

trial  .      '  .  .  •  ,        , 

but  in  1079,  in  connection  with  the 
"  Rye  House  Plot "  he  issued  "  An 
Appeal  from  the  Country  to  the  City, 
for  the  Preservation  of  His  Majesties 
Person  and  the  Protestant  Religion ". 
The  King's  government  did  not  take 
the  same  view  of  the  question  that 
Mr.  Harris  had,  and  as  a  result  he  was 
brought  to  trial  for  the  "  printing  and 
vending  "  of  this  tract.  The  courtly 
tendency  towards  Catholicism  gave 
little  chance  for  the  printer,  and  the 
chief  justice,  after  remarking  that  if  he 
had  his  wish,  the  printer  should  be 
whipped,  ordered  him  to  find  security 
for  his  good  behavior  for  three  years.1 

1    "  A   short  account  of  the   tryal   of  B.  Harris," 
London  :    1679. 


Introduction  2  9 

Unwarned  by  his  experience,  Harris 
in  1681  printed  a  "Protestant  Peti-  Sentenced  to 
tion  ",  and  was  once  more  haled  before  tfje  t>lll"ry 
the  court  and  this  time  the  judge  fined 
him  live  hundred  pounds  and  ordered 
him  put  in  the  pillory.  This  meant  that 
he  was  to  be  stoned  by  the  crowd 
which  always  gathered,  but  from  that 
fate  he  was  saved,  for  "  his  Wife  (like 
a  Kind  Rib)  stood  by  him  to  defend 
her  Husband  against  the  Mobb".1 
For  this  act,  his  enemies  promptly 
turned  their  abuse  upon  the  woman, 
and  scurrilous  ballads  entitled  "  The 
Saint  turned  Courtezan "  and  the 
"  Protestant  Cuckold  "  endeavored  to 
bring  discredit  upon  her.  The  printer 
apparently  could  not  pay  the  mulct, 
for  he  was  "•  for  above  two  years  a 

1    Dunton's   "  Letters  from   New   England,"   143. 


3  o  Introduction 

Prisoner  ",  and  he  seems  to  have  ceased 

printing  from  that  time. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles  II.  and 
Removes  to  the  succession  of  Catholic  |ames  "  Old 
B<*to»i»  Ellwand  ",  wrote  John  Dunton  from 

Ne-w  Eng-  »  '.  J 

land  Boston,  "  is   now    so    uiieasie  a   Place 

for  honest  Men,  that  those  that  can 
will  seek  out  for  another  Countrey : 
And  this  I  suppose  is  the  Case  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  Harris  and  the  two  Mr. 
Hows,  whom  I  hear  are  coming 
hither  and  to  whom  I  wish  a  good 
Voyage.  Mr.  Ben  Harris,  you  know, 
has  been  a  noted  Publick  Man  in 
England,  and  I  think  the  Book  of 
English  Liberties  .  .  .  was  done  for 

O 

him  and  Mr.  How  :  No  wonder  then 
that  in  this  Reign  they  meet  with 
Enemies  ".  1 

1   Dunton's  "  Letters  from  New  England,"  144. 


a"d 


cofee 


-hous 


Introduction  3  1 

Come  to  Boston  Harris  did  and  late 
in  1686  he  set  up  a  book  and  "  Coffee,   Sets  up  a 
Tee  and   Chucaletto  "    shop,1   by   the 

.  -r*  v\  \       f^\  />          A 

"  1  own-rump  near  the  Change  .  A 
year  later  his  imprint  reads  "  at  the 
London  Coffee  House  "  and  he  was 
employing  the  printers  of  the  town  to 
print  pamphlets  and  broadsides  for  him. 
Here  too  he  was  quickly  involved  with 
the  authorities,  for  in  1690  he  issued, 
without  permission,  the  first  newspaper 
printed  in  America,  under  the  title  of 
u  Public  Occurrences  "  ;  which  was 
promptly  suppressed  by  proclamation. 
In  1691  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
John  Allen,  and  seems  to  have  set  up 
a  press  of  his  own.  A  year  later  he 
became  u  Printer  to  His  Excellency 
the  Governor  and  Council  ",  and  re- 

1   "  Boston  Town  Records,"  204. 


3  2  Introduction 

moved    his   business   to  a  "  Shop,   over 
against  the  Old- Meet  ing  House",  mak- 
ing another  remove  in  1694  to  a  place 
which    he    called    "  The    Sign    of   the 
Bible,  over  against  the  Blew-Anchor  ", 
having  ended   his  relations  with  Allen. 
In   the   meantime  the   English  peo- 
Rcturm  to        pie  had  stood  firm  to  their  religion  and 
England  and    j^j   ,-jj  themselves  of   their   king,  so 

resumes  print-       .  /~\i  t    Y->        i         i 

,-  that  now  Old  hngland  was  once  more 

safe  to  haters  of  popery.  Better  still, 
King  William,  whose  advent  Harris 
hailed  in  a  poem  beginning  : 

"  God   SAVE    THE    KING,   that  King 

that  sailed  the  land, 
When  JAMES  your  Martyr's  Son,  your 

LAIVS  had  shamni  d"  I 

had  freed  the  press  from  the  worst 
features  of  governmental  restraint. 

1    (<  Monthly  Observations,"  Boston:    1692. 


Introduction  3  3 


Accordingly,  Harris  returned  to  Lon- 
don towards  the  end  of  1695,  and 
opened  a  new  printing  office  at  the 
"  Maiden-Head-Court  in  Great  East 
Cheap",  and  later  Dunton  writes  that 
he  "  continu'd  Ben  Harris  still ;  and  is 
now  both  Bookseller  and  Printer,  in 
Grace-church  Street,  as  we  find  by  his 
London  Post ;  so  that  his  conversation  is 
general  (but  never  Impertinent)  and  his 
Wit  pliable  to  all  Inventions.  But  yet 
his  vanity  (if  he  has  any)  gives  no  Alloy 
to  his  Wit,  and  is  no  more  than  might 
justly"  Spring  from  conscious  Vertue; 
and  I  do  him  but  Justice  in  this  part  of 
his  Character,  for  in  once  travelling  with 
him  from  Burv  Fair,  I  found  him  to  be 
the  most  Ingenious  and  Innocent  Com- 
panion that  I  had  ever  met  with  "-1 

1   Dunton's  "Lite  and  Errors." 


34  Introduction 


When  Harris  died  can  not  be  discovered, 
but  it  was  after  1716. 


* 
*    * 


B 


KFORE  his  flight  in   1686  to 

Harris  com-  1— ^L    HoStOll     (according    tO     DuiltOll) 

files  and  lu  ;vir.  Harris  I  think  also  Printed 

f nnts   The  t^^h  'T-  r>       i 

Protestant         tne   Protestant     1  u tor,  a    Hook    not  at 
Tutor  all  relish'd  by  the  Popish  Party,  because 

it  is  the  design  of  that  little  Book  to 
bring  up  Children  in  an  Aversion  to 
Popery ".  It  was  first  advertised  in 
Harris's  newspaper  Feb.  27,  1679, 
and  in  it  lay  the  germ  of  the  New 
England  Primer.  Here  was  the  usual 
portrait  of  the  reigning  sovereign  as  a 
frontispiece,  and  portions  of  the  text 
were  the  u  Roman  Small  Letters", 
the  Syllabarium,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 


l;or.doru(  '•';•   /'  !' 


':'  .'",  I  ,i:-.2-i 


Introduction  3  5 

Creed,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the 
John  Rogers  biography  and  verses, 
though  not  the  famous  picture  of  the 
martyr  at  the  stake,  the  words  of 
from  two  to  seven  syllables,  the 
Proper  Names,  and  a  catechism,  to- 
gether with  much  other  material  for 
the  benefit  of  youth  and  the  injury 
of  Papacy,  the  whole  being  dedicated 
"  To  the  Right  Honourable  James, 
Earl  of  Doncaster  and  Dalkeith, 
Eldest  Son  of  the  Illustrious  Prot- 
estant Prince  James  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth "  by  "  Your  Lordships  most 
Humble  Servant,  Benjamin  Harris." 
The  preface,  addressed  "  To  all  Prot- 
estant Parents,  School-Masters,  and 
School  Mistresses  of  Children  "  "  in- 
forms "  them  "  that  this  little  book  may 
in  some  measure  discover  to  our  children 


Introduction 


what  they  must  certainly  expect  if  ever 
Popery  prevail  against  us,  and  therefore 
nothing  can  be  thought  more  necessary 
than  to  teach  them  to  Spell  and  Read 
English,  and  to  Create  in  them  an  Ab- 
horrence of  Romish  Idolatry  at  the  same 
time,  which  being  inspired  in  their  green 
and  tender  years,  may  leave  an  Impres- 
sion in  their  Minds  to  the  End  of  their 
Lives,  which  is  the  Real  and  Hearty 
Desire  and  Design  of,  Your  PViend  and 
Servant,  Benj.  Harris." 

Apparently  this  appeal  to  parents 
Success  of  and  teachers  bore  fruit,  for  on  Feb.  i, 
The  Prote-  1680,  the  printer  announced  a  second 

tant  Tutor  .  .         ' 

impression,  though  the  price  was  low- 
ered from  eight  to  six  pence.  At  the 
time  Harris  was  arrested  some  five 
hundred  copies  of  the  book,  presump- 
tively of  this  new  edition,  were  seized 


Introduction  3  7 

and  taken  from  him.  In  1685  it  was 
reissued,  probably  in  an  abridged  form, 
in  Boston,  and  it  was  once  again 
printed  by  Harris  in  London,  in  1695, 
the  advertisement  of  this  edition  de- 
scribing it  as  "A  Little  Book  of 
Martyrs  with  pictures  for  enlivening 
every  History ;  which  book  formerly 
found  such  General  Acceptance  that 
many  thousand  of  them  were  sold,  and 
it  is  now  reduced  to  so  low  a  rate  that 
parents  may  both  delight  and  profit 
there  [.f/V]  Children  at  Three-pence  or 
Four-pence  charge  and  thereby  con- 
tribute toward  the  Suport  of  him  who 
is  their  Hearty  Friend  and  Servant, 
Benjamin  Harris."  In  an  enlarged 
form  the  work  was  again  issued  in 
London  in  1715,  and  its  compiler 
printed  a  new  edition  in  1716. 


Introduction 


33 

Ere  this,  in  1686,  Harris  had  sought 
The  Protes-  refuge  in  New  England.  On  his  set- 
tant  lutor  [mv  up  in  Boston  as  a  bookseller  it 

becomes  The  '  .          .  .  . 

New  Kngiand    was  obviously  to  his  interest  to  get  out 
Primer  a  new  edition  of  the  little  book,  tor  its 

chance  of  success  among  the  popery- 
hating  New  Englanders  was  even 
greater  than  that  it  had  already  met 
with  in  Old  England.  The  poverty  of 
the  people  made  prudent  an  abridg- 
ment of  the  "Tutor  "  and  thus  it  was 
reduced  to  smaller  bulk  ;  to  make  it  the 
more  salable  the  school-book  character 
was  increased,  while  to  give  it  an  even 
better  chance  for  success  by  an  appeal 
to  local  pride,  it  was  rechristened  and 
came  forth  under  the  now  famous  title. 
No  copy  of  this  first  edition  of  the 
New  England  Primer  is  known  and 
thus  the  exact  date  of  its  appearance 


DECEMBER   hath  3 1  D<ays 


Lafb  quart.  2  day  24  min.  pad  4  morn. 
New  Moon  9  day  21  min.  paft  9  mom, 
Firfb  quart.  17  day  13  min.  paffc  1  Afrern. 
Full  Moon  25  day  39  min  palh  10  night. 
Laft  quart-  31  day  59  min.  pad  11  morn 

Sr/jr/  n?/;/V&  hav e  appeared  heretofore,  and  row 


Time  out  of  mind  there  has  feven  Stars  bin 
obferved  in  the  pleiades,  and  at  Prefent  there 
is  to  be  feen  but  fix,  a  yery  probable  fign  thac 
one  of  them  is  retired  and  become  invifiblc. 
One  of  thefe  of  the  Conftellation  of  the  Lit. 
tie  Be*r^  which  was  formerly  vifible,  doth  not 
now  appear.  Another  alfo  in  the  ConfteHati 
on  of  Andromeda  hath  alfo  difappeared. 

Licem'd    According  to  Order. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 
There  is  now  in  the  Prefs,  and  will  fuddenly 
e  extant,  a  Second  Itnpreflion  of  The  New~Eng- 
>ind  Primer  enlarged,  to  which  is  added,  more 
Dirttiibm  for  Spelling  \  the  Prayer  ot  K    Edward 
the  6th-  and  Per  fit  made  by  Air.  Rog-ers  the  M*r- 
*yr->  ^f'  as  "•  Legacy  to  his  Clxldan. 
Sold  by  Bexjimin  H*rrist  at  the  Lwdw  Coflc- 

First  Mention  of  the  "  New  Eii-laiul  Primer" 
(From  "Newman's  News  rror.i  the  Stars."       Boston  :    1690) 


Introduction  3  9 

cannot   be   given.      Harris   did   not  ar- 
rive   in    Boston    till    near   the   end   of    Date  of  put>- 
1686,    and    the    only    publication    he    iil'atio">  a"d 

.  J  advertisement 

issued  in  that  year  was  an  almanac  Of  the  second 
for  1687,  which  Sewall  bought  on  impression 
December  6,  1686.  Between  that 
time  and  Jan.  5,  1688,  Harris  made 
a  trip  to  England,  and  on  Nov.  22, 
1688  he  again  sailed  for  London.1  It 
was  between  1687  and  1690,  there- 
fore, that  the  first  edition  of  the  Primer 
was  issued.  Its  success  seems  to  have 
been  immediate,  for  in  Henry  New- 
man's almanac  entitled  "  News  from 
the  Stars  ",  "  Printed  by  R.  Peiice 
for  Benjamin  Harris  at  the  London 
Coffee-House  in  Boston,  1691  "  (and 
consequently  printed  late  in  1690) 
the  last  leaf  advertised  a  "  second  Im- 

1   Sewall's  "  Diary,"  i.,  200,  237. 


o  Introdud  ioti 


pression   of  The  New  England  Primer, 
Enlarged  ". 

A  very  essential  piece  of  evidence 
Tb,-  Bradford  in  regard  to  the  date  of  the  hook  is 
j raiment  connected  with  the  earliest  (supposed) 
fragment  of  the  Primer  known.  This 
consists  of  four  leaves,  and  was  found 
bound  up  as  waste  in  the  binding  of  a 
copy  of  Daniel  Leeds'  u  Temple  of 
Wisdom "  as  printed  by  William 
Bradford  at  Philadelphia'  in  1688. 
From  this  it  has  been  argued  that 
u  these  leaves  probably  came  from  a 
Philadelphia  reprint  of  a  Boston  edi- 
tion of  the  Primer  which  must  have 
been  published  at  least  as  early  as 
1687".  The  evidence  of  this  does 
not  seem  adequate.  There  is  no 
proof  that  the  volume  was  bound  in 
the  year  that  it  was  printed,  nor  can 


Introduction  4 1 


it  he  decided  for  certain  that  the  frag- 
ments are  a  reprint  of  the  Primer,  the 
chances  being  quite  as  favorable  of 
their  being  part  of  an  edition  of  the 
Protestant  Tutor.  All  that  can  be 
said  of  these  leaves  is  that  they  are 
the  earliest  known  fragments  of  a  book 
compiled  by  Benjamin  Harris,  and  that 
they  were  printed  by  William  Brad- 
ford either  in  Philadelphia  or  New 
York  between  1687  and  1700.  From 
other  facts  known  of  Bradford  this 
was  presumably  a  stealing  of  Harris's 
book  and  is  therefore  an  early  Ameri- 
can case  of  literary  theft. 

The  book  proved  so  great  a  success 
in  New  England  that  when  its  com- 
piler returned  to  Old  England,  he 
continued  to  publish  it.  In  a  work  1 

1    Davenport's  "    Saints  Anchor  hold."     London  : 

1 7O  I. 


4  2  Introduction 

printed  by  him  in  1701  is  advertised 
ILinis  hsues  at  the  end,  among  other  u  Books 
M<-  New  Kng-  Printed  and  Sold  by  B.  Harris  at  the 

land  Primer         /-•,    i  i  .-,         »      TT       J    •       /"<  u          u 

WThe  New  Cjoldcn  Boar  s-Hcad  in  Cj  race-church 
English  Tutor  St.",  "The  New  England  Primer 
Enlarged  ;  For  the  more  easy  attain- 
ing the  true  Reading  of  English.  To 
which  is  added  Milk  for  Babes." 
He  seems  to  have  also  published  edi- 
tions of  it  under  a  title  which  would 
make  it  more  attractive  to  the  Eng- 
lish public,  for  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne  (1702-1714)  he  issued  what  is 
presumably  the  same  text  as  his  New 
England  Primer,  under  the  title  of 
"  The  New  English  Tutor ".  But 
the  other  title  proved  the  more  popu- 
lar, and  under  it  numerous  editions 
were  printed  in  England  and  Scotland, 
even  into  the  nineteenth  century. 


For  the  more  ea/v 

attaining  the  True 
'Reading  of 

ENGLISH, 

Towhich  is  added 
Milk  for  Babes 


Introduction  43 


It  was   in  New   England,  however, 
that   its    great    success   was    achieved.   Success  of  the 
Primer    to    printer    and    people    there    Prlmcr  "> 

i  i          TVT  i->        i         i     Ne-w  Eny- 

soon  meant  only  the  New  England  ianj 
Primer,  all  other  varieties  being 
specially  designated  to  show  that  they 
were  not  of  the  popular  kind.  Copies 
of  the  little  book  were  as  much  a 
matter  of  "  stock  "  in  the  bookshops 
of  the  towns  and  general  stores  of  the 
villages  as  the  Bible  itself.  In  the 
inventory  of  Michael  Perry,  a  Boston 
bookseller,  filed  in  1700,  is  entered 
"  28  Primmers"  and  "44  do/,.  Prim- 
mers  "  , J  and  standard  advertisements 
in  newspapers  and  books  announced 
that  such  and  such  a  printer  has  for 
sale  "  Bibles,  Testaments,  Psalters, 


1   Dunton's  "Letters  from   New  England,"  316, 
318. 


44  Introduction 


Psalm-Books,  Primers,  Account  Books 
and  Books  of  Record  ".  Indeed  it 
was  so  taken  for  granted  that  copies 
were  in  stock,  that  many  printers  and 
booksellers  did  not  think  the  fact 
worth  advertising. 

Occasionally  printers  in  America 
Changes  of  tried  to  better  the  sale  by  re-naming 
it,  as  when  Thomas  Green  issued  it 
in  New  London  with  the  title  of  "  A 
Primer  for  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut "  and  Henry  de  Foreest  printed  it 
at  New  York  as  "  The  New  York 
Primer ".  When  the  United  States 
became-  a  fact,  it  was  several  times 
printed  under  the  titles  of "  The 
American  Primer",  or  "  The  Colum- 
bian Primer".  But  the  variations 
were  not  popular,  the  ventures  did  not 
succeed  the  better,  and  eventually  the 


*r> 

o 


T       H       B 


PRIMER,: 

•Of,  M»  tafy  Bind  ph  a/ant 
GU^OE  to  tbt  ART  of  READ  INC    v 
with  CVTTS. 


re  added, 
THE  .ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES'  ^ 

C  AT  EC  HIS  M. 


:-.pr[nted  .and  fold  by 
)•  ^/«ITE,  near  Charles-River 
Bridge. 


Introduction  45 

"  New  England   Primer  "  became  the 
deservedly   established   title. 

For  one  hundred  years  this  Primer 
was  the  school-book  of  the  dissenters  Magnitude 
of  America,  and  for  another  hundred,  it  "J  5al" 
was  frequently  reprinted.  In  the  unfa- 
vorable locality  (in  a  sectarian  sense)  of 
Philadelphia,  the  accounts  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  David  Hall  show  that  be- 
tween 1749  and  1766,  or  a  period  of 
seventeen  years,  that  firm  sold  thirty- 
seven  thousand  one  hundred  copies. 
Livermore  stated  in  1849  tnat  within 
the  last  dozen  years  "  100,000  copies 
of  modern  editions  .  .  .  have  been  cir- 
culated ".  An  over  conservative  claim 
for  it  is  to  estimate  an  annual  average 
sale  of  twenty  thousand  copies  during  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
or  total  sales  of  three  million  copies. 


Introduction 


Despite  this  enormous  number,  early 

Rarity  of  the    editions  of  the  New  England    Primer 

Pnmcr,  and     arc  among  the  rarest  of  school-books. 

Edward  Coote,  in  his  "English  Schoole- 

Master"  (London  1597)  recommended 

to  purchasers  of  his  book,  that  : 

"If,  notwithstanding  any  former  reasons, 
thou  doubtist  that  thy  little  child  will  have 
spoyled  this  booke  before  it  bee  learned  ; 
thou  maist  fitly  diuide  it  at  the  end  of  the 
second  booke,  or  thou  mayest  reserve  faire 
the  written  copies,  vntill  he  can  read." 

When  to  the  destruction  of  the  child, 
is  added  the  slight  value  set  by  adults 
on  children's  books  of  their  own  time, 
it  is  not  strange  that  works  intended 
for  the  instruction  or  amusement  of 
the  young  should  constitute  one  of  the 
rarest  of  all  classes  of  literature. 


Introduction  4  7 


This  destruction  and  heedlessness 
has  made  a  study  of  the  New  England 
Primer  an  almost  hopeless  undertak- 
ing. Eagerly  searched  for  by  many 
collectors  in  the  last  fifty  years,  no 
copy  of  a  seventeenth  century  edi- 
tion of  the  work  has  been  discovered, 
and  this  search  has  brought  to  light 
less  than  fifty  editions  and  less  than 
sixty  copies  of  New  England  Primers 
printed  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Although  as  already  noted  Franklin 
and  Hall  printed  over  thirty-seven 
thousand  copies  between  1749  and 
1766  (and  as  Franklin  printed  an  edi- 
tion as  early  as  1735  and  Hall  as  late 
as  17/9  it  is  probable  that  they  issued 
at  least  double  that  number),  but  a 
single  copy  with  their  imprints  is 
known  to  exist.  Thomas  states  that 


48 


Introduction 


Fowlc  printed  about  1757  one  edition 
of  10,000  copies,  but  not  a  single 
primer  with  his  imprint  is  extant. 
This  is  typical  of  the  majority  of  the 
issues.  Only  twelve  copies  of  editions 
printed  before  1780  have  been  dis- 
posed of  at  auction  in  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  they  have  sold  for  an 
average  of  one  hundred  dollars  each. 


A: 


*   * 

LTHOUGH  each  printer  of 
Variations  of  /  %  the  New  England  Primer 

changed  title  and  text  to  suit 
his  taste  or  business  interests,  certain 
unmistakable  ear-marks,  or  what  the 
naturalist  would  term  u  limit  of 
organic  variation",  serve  to  mark 
beyond  question  every  edition  of  the 


Introduction  49 

Primer,  however  titled  or  altered. 
The  printers  of  other  school-books 
often  inserted  fragments  of  the  more 
famous  Primer  in  their  ventures,  but 
this  deceived  neither  the  public  then 
nor  the  book  lover  now,  the  true 
Primer  being  too  sharply  differentiated 
from  all  others  for  there  to  be  the 
possibility  of  confusion. 

Every   New   England    Primer,    like 
many   others,  began    with    the   letters    The  alphabet 
of   the  alphabet,   followed    by   various  "nd  syllaba- 

.  .  .  .    J      ..      .  rium 

repetitions  making  clear  the  distinc- 
tions between  vowels,  consonants, 
double  letters,  italic  and  capitals. 
After  this  came  what  was  called 
"  Easy  Syllables  for  Children,"  or  as 
it  was  frequently  termed,  the  "  sylla- 
barium,"  beginning  with  such  com- 
binations as  "  ab,  eb,  ib,  ob,  ub ," 


5  o  Introduction 


followed  by  words  of  one  syllable 
which  lengthened  by  degrees  to  im- 
posing vocables  of  six  syllables.  It 
is  to  be  noted  however,  that  occa- 
sionally when  the  printer  was  cramped 
for  space,  he  limited  the  ambition  of 
the  student  by  dropping  out  these 
polysyllabic  words,  and  gave  only 
the  shorter  ones.  This  whole  ele- 
mentary section  of  the  primer  had 
been  used  in  Coote's  "The  English 
Schoolmaster,"  as  early  as  1596,  and 
may  have  been  framed  by  him,  but 
as  the  first  part  is  practically  what 
went  to  make  the  Horn-Book  of  the 
period,  its  antiquity  may  be  far  greater 
than  Coote's  book. 

One  apparently  trivial  distinction 
in  the  text  as  given  in  the  New 
England  Primer,  yet  wThich  had  a 


-fAabedefghijklxnnopq 
rfttuvwxyt&  a  e  i  o  n 
ABCDEFGHlfKLMNOPQ 
RSTUVWXYZ 

.a  e  I  o  u  a  e  1  o  u 
ab  tb  tb  ob  ub  ba  be  bi  bo  bu 
ac  ec  ic  oc  uc  ca  ce  ci  co  cu 
adedidodud  dadedidodu 
In  the  Nam*  of  the  Fatherand  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  HolyOhoft.  dmm. 

OUR  Father, which  art  in 
Heaven.hallowedbethy 
Name;  thy  Kingdom  come,  thy 
Will  be  done  on  Esrdi, as  it  is  in 
Heeven.  Give  us  this  Day  our 
daily  Bread;  and  forgive  usou  r 
Tref^aflc»,ts  we  forgive  them 
chttcrefpaisagainftus:  And 
lead  ue  not  intoTemptation.but 
deliver  us  from  Evil. 


Reproduction  of  Horn  Book 


Introduction  5 1 

deep    motive,   is    the    omission    at    the 

beginning    of   the   alphabet   of    the    >J<    The  omission 

which    otherwise    was    so    almost    in-   °J  the  *& 

variably  placed    there,   as    to    give  to 

the  first  line  of  the  alphabet  the  name 

of   "  Christ's    Cross-Row "    or    as    it 

was     more     commonly    termed    "  the 

Cris     Cross     Row."        In     Morton's 

"  New    English    Canaan "    he    speaks 

of  ua   silenced  Minister"  who  came 

over    to    New    England    and    brought 

"a    great     Bundell    of    Home    books 

with   him   and   careful   hee  was   (good 

man)    to   blott  out   all   the  crosses  of 

them  for  feare  least  the  people  of  the 

land  should    become   Idolaters."      Of 

this  Puritan    dread    of   the  cross,  the 

New    England    Primer     always     took 

heed,  and  no   edition   is   known,  even 

in    those    prepared   for    Episcopalians, 


5  2  Introduction 

to  contain  the  oldest  religious  emblem 
now  worshipped. 

Usually  following  the  syllabarium, 
Alphabet  of  was  what  was  called  "  An  Alphabet 
lessens  Of  Lessons  for  Youth,"  being  a  series 

of  moral  and  instructive  sentences 
taken  from  the  Bible,  so  worded  and 
arranged  as  to  begin  each  paragraph 
with  a  successive  capital  letter  of  the 
alphabet,  the  sole  exception  being  in 
the  case  of  X,  for  that  letter  proved 
beyond  the  ability  of  the  compiler  to 
find  a  sentence  beginning  properly, 
and  he  dodged  the  issue  in  the  follow- 
ing manner 

"  eXhort  one  another  daily  ". 

In  every  "  New  England   Primer" 
tjie  Lor(]»s  Prayer  and  Apostles'  Creed 

•       i      i     i  i        i_  -i         i      • 

was  included,  and  while  their  position 


IQ  4 dam's  Fall 
We  finned  all. 

Thy  Life  to  mend 
This  Book  attend. 


The  Gtf  doth  play 
And  after  flay. 


Bite 
A  Thief  at  Night. 


An  £*g/*'s  Flight 
Is  out  of  Sight. 


An  idle 

Is  vvhipt  at  School. 
As, 


Rhymed  AlplKibct  Pages 
(From  tlic  "New  Mngliah  Tutor."      London:    [1702—1714?]) 


Tutor  (£nlarQe&. 
Asruns 
Man's  life  doth  pafs 


My  Sod  and  Heart 
SJlall  never  part. 


Sweet  Jcfa  He 
Dy'd  on  a  Tree. 

K.  Wtfli*mjs  Dead 
and  left  the  Throne 
To  dnn  our  Queen 
of  great  Renown* 
Th<?  Ly<?«  bold 

l  does  hold 


Moon  gives  light 
la  timt  of  Night. 


Night  ivgAtts  fing 
in-time  of  Spring. 

The  Royal  OaK 
It  was  the  Tree 

That  fav  d  his 
Royal  Majcfty. 

?f/<T  Denies 

His  Lord  and  cryes 

Queen  Esther  came 
in  Roysl  State, 

To  fave  the  Jews 
from  difraal  Face* 

Rachel  doth  mourn 
for  herfirfl'born, 

Samuel  anoints 
whom  God  appoints. 


17 

Time  cuts   down  all 
both  great  and  fmall 

Vrifih'*  bcautious 

W/fe, 

Made  Dw/Wfeek 

Ms  Life. 

Whales  in  the  Sea, 
God's  Voice  obey. 

the  Great  did 


And  fo  mult  you. 
and  I 

Tenth  forward  flip? 
Death  fooneft  nips. 

achetu  he 

did  climb  the  Tree, 
his  Lord  to  fee. 


Introduction  5  3 

was  varied,  they  commonly  followed 
the  "  Alphabet  of  Lessons." 

* 

*    * 

NEXT  in  order  of  what  went 
to   make  the   Primer  famous    The  Rhymed 
were    the    twenty-four    little   -Alphabet 
pictures,     with     alphabetical     rhymes, 
commencing 

"  In  Adam's  Fall 
We  sinned  All". 

—  A  description  of  the  beginning  of 
original  sin  which  certainly  did  its 
best  to  balance  our  first  forebears'  very 
ungenerous  version  of  the  affair  which 
to  the  Puritan  was  the  greatest  event 
in  history. 

This     method      of      teaching     the 
alphabet  by  short  poems  was  of  much 


5  4  Introduction 

older  date.      As  early   as    1552    there 
Earlier  was   printed    in   England   a   little  tract 

Rhymed  Al-      entitled     "  Alphabetum     primum    Be- 

tobabcts  ].   ,,          i-i  •          i        /-      i 

cardi,  which  consisted  or  rhymes  to 
each  of  the  letters,  and  another  work 
of  this  period  of  exactly  the  same 
character  was  entitled  "  Finch  his 
Alphabet ".  So,  too,  a  little  later  a 
broadside  was  issued,  headed  "  All  the 
Letters  of  the  A.  B.  C.  by  every  son- 
drye  Letter  wherof  ther  is  a  good  Docu- 
ment set  fourth  and  taught  in  Ryme. 
Translated  out  of  Bas-Almaine  into 
English,  anno  15/5  ".  An  even  further 
development  of  this  was  contained  in 
Wastell's  "  Microbiblion,  or  the  Bibles 
Epitome"1  (London  1629)  containing 
the  sum  of  the  whole,  in  verse  so  capi- 
talized as  to  form  successive  alphabets. 

1  An  edition  with  a  different  title  was  printed  as 
early  as  1623. 


Introduction  5  5 

Who  was  the  author  of  the   New 
England   Primer  alphabet  verses  is  not   Authorship  of 
known,  no   text  of  it  before  its  print-   Rh'mcJ 

,  11-1  /  i       Alphabet 

ing  in  that  work  having  been  round. 
It  could  not  have  been  written  long 
before  the  first  appearance  of  that  book, 
for  the  rhyme  : 

"  The  Royal  Oak 

It  ivas  the  Tree 
That  sa"v' d  his 
Royal  Majesty,''' 

by  its  allusion  to  King  Charles,  clearly 
shows  it  to  have  been  composed  after 
1660.  All  this  points  to  the  compiler 
of  the  Primer  as  its  author,  for  in  other 
poems  he  expresses  the  greatest  admira- 
tion for  the  Merrie  Monarch,  and  as 
already  noted,  he  was  continually  scrib- 
bling verse  quite  of  the  character  of  the 
rhymed  alphabet. 


Introduction 


But  there  is  better  proof  of  Harris's 
The  Fable*       authorship    than     mere    inference.      A 
ofToung          study   of  the   twenty-four   rhymes    re- 
veals the  fact  that  certain  ones  of  them 
seem   not   merely  without    moral,  but 
without   meaning. 

The  Cat  doth  play 
And  after  slay 

leaves  one  very  much  in  doubt  as  to 
what  monition  is  intended  to  be  con- 
veyed, and  equally  vague  is 

The  Lion  bold 

The  Lamb  doth  hold 

Still  less  valuable,  however  true,  is  the 
information  that 

Nightingales  sing 
In  time  of  Spring. 

Finally,  it  would  be  cruel  to  even  at- 
tempt to  compute  the  bewilderment  of 
the  Primer's  students  due  to  the  stanza 


Fable  I. 


Fable  VII. 


,.  n>  XOSE 


7.  V* 


LOOKinthcMorTung,ariJ  you'll  fte 
UK  Rofc  buds  to  awake, 
And  (romthcJr  Btdsmoft  fra&rmtlj, 
a  pkafint  Odour  make. 

And  when  th«  Cjrd'ntr  to  it  gon, 
U  cn't  bis  Knife  wlthfhod ; 

BDI  ftriit  defends  this  Domini  Rofe, 
to  wither  in  his  Hand. 

Ah !  gentle  Yo-jth,rtu»  flrive  to  crop 
from  off  Ibis  Bam  <  Flower ; 

Turn  back  •,  behold  !  one  rod;  (lands 
chy  Youili  fcr  to  devour.. 


WHen  Winters  boary  FrofUrt  ore, 
to  liftier  in  tbe  Spring, 
Up  (biles  th 'harmonious  winged  Opitc 
nelodioufly  to  Sing. 

Kul,  tow  tbe  well  tiny  Nighlnijalc 
founds  fortb  lier  quiv'rins  Noct 

And  wirblo  out  iptota,  Tale, 
wild  MnTick  in  bier  tbrcat  i 

AlUife,  (he  Butter?  in  the  Baft, 
her  irrenuoos  Notes  to  raifr 

AM  wlulfl ;  her  Life  d«l.  Uft,  (ne  tbu. 
Clunts  forti  her  Mate's  Pnufc 

'The 


Fable  XIII. 


I).  Ttt 


A  Lamb,  by  chance,  bad  gone  art  ray. 
*  *    And  wand'iing  thro  a  Wood, 
A  Lvon  met  in  Malqucradc, 
W  ho  Fiumng  by  bim  Aoort. 

Coed  Lyon,  r  quoth  tot  Limb)  Icmt, 
My  Liege  w,u  lend  ui  Ear, 

uXS  *,c  from  tt>e  r?v>nolu  Wolves, 
Whofe  Jaws  1  diUy  itu. 


T«L     —    V         7        x  iroci  [[ 
The  I  yon  (bait  did  Rore  • 
Till  tote  Den  he  came,  wiai  ta 
1  ne  Limb  in  pieto  tore. 


80       Fable  XXXVII. 

17.  Th  Cat  mi  R.i: 


T  IThen  f /^  with  mewing  made  tbeEUls 
"     tbar  Holes  quite  to  forfike, 
Sbe  ruchtth  down  a  Violin 
ud  flrau  doth  Mufick  nuic  : 

A.t  tvhicb  tbe>'  came  from  far  and  near 
dancing  with  rumble  Feet : 

Bo:  fbme.  mace  wifcr  than  the  reft, 
fcaal  Food  ioJ  fell  to  tat : 

Tbe  Cat  upon  ibofc  Aat;  loon  Criu, 
wbo  next  unto  her  were  i 

.  But  ill  tbe  reft  eiafi'J  Kith  Checfe, 
and  oibtr  ivtultkkti  Fare. 


Four  Pages  from  Harriss'  Fables  of  Young 
(London:    1700) 


Introduction  5  7 


Youths  forward  slips 
Death  soonest  nips. 

All  these  enigmas  are  made  clear  how- 
ever by  an  examination  of  a  little  vol- 
ume entitled  "  The  Fables  of  Young 
^Esop,  With  their  Morals.  With  a 
Moral  History  of  his  Life  and  Death. 
Illustrated  with  Forty  curious  Cuts, 
applicable  to  each  Fable." J  This 
booklet,  "  Written  by  B.  H."  or  Ben- 
jamin Harris,  contains  a  series  of  dog- 
gerel verses  appended  to  the  "  curious 
cuts "  and  when  Mr.  Harris  came 
to  make  his  alphabet  verses  for  the 
Primer,  with  a  frugality  of  mind  that 
would  have  charmed  Mr.  Gilpin,  he 
took  certain  of  the  illustrations  from 


1  The  earliest  known  edition  is  the  Fourth,  "  Lon- 
don, Printed  and  Sold  by  Benj.  Harris,  at  the  Golden 
Boar's  Head,  in  Grace-Church  street.  MDCC." 


Introduction 


this  other  book,  and  by  rewriting  his 
rhymes,  utilized  them  anew  in  the 
Primer  verses. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  of  all  these 
Changs  in       twenty-four  stanzas  only  the  first  one, 

.,  i  i 

Alphabet  relating  to  Adam,  was  not  at  some 
time  varied  or  changed,  and  these  vari- 
ations give  a  curious  illustration  of 
some  very  important  alterations  of 
public  opinion.  Thus  in  the  earliest 
text  extant,  at  the  letter  J  is  given  a  pic- 
ture of  the  crucifixion,  with  the  stanza 

"  Siveet  Jesus  he 
Df\i  on  a   Tree." 

And  in  an  English  school-book  of  other 
character  than  the  Primer,  this  was  un- 
changed. The  Puritan,  however,  would 
not  tolerate  even  this  use  of  the  cross, 
and  so  very  quickly  the  picture  was 
changed  to  one  of  Job,  and  the  rhyme  to 


Introduction  5  9 


"  J°b  feels  the  rod 
TTet  blesses  God. " 

Perhaps  the  most  curious  change  is 
that    connected     with     the    letter    K.    F^m  King 
Allusion   has   been    made    to    Harris's   to  Demos 
admiration  for  King  Charles,  and  there 
is  good   evidence    that    for  this   letter 
originally  there  was   a  picture  of  that 
monarch  and  the  stanza  read 

"  King  Charles  the  Good 
No  Man  of  Blood."   * 

Presently  however  the  King  was  dead, 
and  in  a  little  time  another  king  in  the 
form  of  William  III.  for  whom  Harris 
also  felt  a  strong  admiration,  was  reign- 
ing over  England.  Thereupon  the 
portrait  and  stanza  were  presumably 
changed  by  the  insertion  of  one  sing- 
ing his  praises.  When  William  died 

1   Stanza  as  printed  in  "A  Guide  for  the  Child  ". 


60  Introduction 

however  Harris  did  not  displace  his 
portrait,  but  calling  into  play  his  poetic 
fancy,  he  affixed  to  the  old  cut,  the 

lines  «  K     WiUiam-< s  Dcad 

and  left  the  throne 
To  Ann  our  Queen 
of  great  Rcnoivn  "  ' 

This  necessity  of  changing  with  each 
new  reign  seems  to  have  proved  a 
nuisance,  and  so  someone  presently  hit 
upon  the  device  of  being  always  in 
date,  by  making  the  rhyme  read 

"  Our  King  (Ac  good 
No  man  of  blood,"  2 

For  many  years  this  form  was  satis- 
factory, but  finally  the  Americans 
began  to  question  if  after  all  the  King 
was  good.  To  meet  this  doubt, 

1  "  New  English  Tutor  ". 

2  "New  England  Primer,"  Boston  :    1727. 


Introduction  6 1 

printers  easily  changed  the  praise  into 
admonition  by  printing 

' '  Kings  should  be  good 
Not  men  of  blood. ' '  * 

Finally  washing  their  hands  of  mon- 
archy, rhyme  too  was  abandoned,  and 
the  stanza  became 

"  The  British  King 
Lost  States  thirteen,"  2 

varied  occasionally  by  another  form 
which  announced  that 

"  Queens  and  Kings 
Are  gaudy  things.''''  3 

Akin    to    this    in    both    democratic 
sentiment  and  verse  were  revised  lines    The  letter  ^ 
for  Q,  to  the  effect  that 

"  Kings  and  Queens 
Lie  in  the  dust."  * 

1  "New  England  Primer,"  Boston:    1791. 

2  Ibid.      Philadelphia:    1797. 

3  Ibid.      Brattleboro:    1825. 

4  Ibid.     New  York:    1819. 


6  2  Introduction 


In    the    same    manner,    the    rhyme 

From  Ru\al      already   quoted,    about    the   royal   oak, 

became    unfit      poetry     tor    young    re- 

Charter   Oak  ' 

publicans,  and  in  attempts  to  vary  it 
wide  divergence  crept  in,  resulting  in 
the  following  forms  : 

"  '/'/>(•  Royal  Oak,  "  //'  you  seek  in  the  forest 

our  King  did  save  The  Oak  you  -n-ill  see 

l"'rom  fatal  Stroke  Among  all  the  rest 

of  Rebel  Slave."  '  is  the  stateliest  tnt."  - 

"  Of  sturdy  Oak  «  The  Charter  Oak 

That  Stately  tree  it  ivas  the  tree 

The  ships  tire  made  That  saved  to  us 

That  sail  the  sea.  "  :i          o:tr  Liberty."  •* 

"  The  Oicl  at  night        "  The  Oak  for  shade 

Hoots  out  of  sight."  •'  CJT  strength  \t:as  made."  c 


. 

1    "  A  Guide  for  the  Child,"  1-25? 

-    "New   England  Primer."      Albany:   181 

3  Ibid.      Walpole:   iSo6. 

4  Ibid.       Hartford:    iS  — ? 
0    Ibid.      New  York:    1819. 
0    Ibid.      Brattleboro:    1825. 


Introduction  63 

Another  injection  of  patriotism  was 
made  in  the  letter  W.     Originally  this    The  Primer 

was  «  Whales,  In  the  sea  crowns 

God's  -voice  obey."  Washington 

In  some  editions  of  the  Primers  printed 
after  the  American  Revolution  this 
somewhat  difficult  rhyme  was  omitted, 
and  in  its  place  was  one  of  the  fol- 
lowing 

"Great  Washington  brave  ".By  Washington 

His  country  did  save."  !     Great  deeds  'were  done."2 

All   the    foregoing    were   haphazard 
changes    by    various    printers,    but    a    The  Rhymed 
more    sweeping    alteration   was    made   Alphabet 
between    1740  and    1760.      As  origi-   Eva"£ellKed 
nally  written  a  many  of  the  verses  had 
a    decidedly    mundane   quality,   and   so 

1    "New  England  Primer,"  Brattleboro:    1825. 
-   Ibid.      New  York:    1794. 
3   Ibid.      Boston:   1727. 


64 


Introduction 


some  New  England  writer  or  printer 
undertook  within  that  period,  to 
evangelize  l  those  lines  which  had  an 
earthly  tendency.  What  was  accom- 
plished, is  shown  in  parallel  column  : 

"  The  Cat  doth  play,  "  Christ  crucify" d 

And  after  slay.""  For  sinners  dy"  d. '" 

"  The  Dog  will  bite,  "  The  Delugi  drown" d 

A  Thief  at  Night.""  The  Earth  around." 

11  An  Eagle's  flight,  "  Elijah  hid 

Is  out  cf  Sight.""  By  ravens  fed." 

"  An  idle  Fool,  "  The  judgement  made 

Is  ivbipt  at  School.""  Felix  afraid."" 

"  Our  King  the  good  "  Proud  Korah" s  troop 

No  man  of  blood. " '  Was  swallowed  up. 

"  The  Lion  bold,  "  Lot  fled  to  Zoar, 

The  Lamb  doth  bold.'"         Saw  fiery  Shower, 

On  Sodom  pour." 

11  The  moon  gives  Light,      "  Moses  was  be 
In  time  of  night.'"  Wbo  Israel" s  Host 

Led  thro"  the  Sea."^ 

1   "New  England  Primer, "  Boston:   1762. 


The  Child* t  Guide. 


In  Adanfi  FaH 
We  fmntd  aJJ. 


This  Book  attend, 
Thy  Life  to  mend. 


The  Cat  dofspfay, 
And  after  fiay. 


The  DCK  doth  bite 
A  Thief  41  Night. 


An  file's  flight 
Is  out  of  fight. 


Rhymed  Alphabet  Pages 
From  the  "  Guide  for  the  Child."      London  :    1725) 


Tbc  Child's  Guide. 


The  Idle  Pool 
Is  whipt  at  School. 


As  runs  the  Gfdfs, 

Man's   Lift  doth 

pafs.  » 


Shall  ocver  part 


Jeius  did  dye 
For  the e and  I 


King  Charles  the 

Good, 
No  Wan  ol  Blood. 


A   6 


The 


The  Child's-  Guide. 


The  Lyon  bold, 
The    Lamb    doth 
hold. 

The    Moon    gives 

Light 
In  time  of  Nrghc. 


Nightingales  fing 
In  time  of  Spring. 

The. Royal  Oal 
our  King  did  fave 
From  fatal  Stroke 
of  Rebel  Slave. 

Peter  denies 
HisLord,and  cries, 


The  Child's  Guide. 


$ueen  £y?/;er  came 
in  Royal  State. 

To  lave  the  Jews 
from  difmai  Rte. 


For  her  firft-bom. 

Samuel  anoints 
Whom   God  IT- 
points. 

Time  cuts  iow/z  all 


'flA's  beauteous 
Wife 

DrfWtf  /Cck 
hts  Lift. 


Introduction 


6  5 


"  Nightingales  sing,  "  Noah  did  -vitiu 

In  time  of  Spring"  The  old  'world  &  neiu." 

"  The  Royal  Oak,  "  Young  Obadias, 

it  <was  the  Tree,  David,  Josias, 

That  sav'd  bis  All  -were  Pious." 
Royal  Majesty." 

"  Rachel  doth  mourn  "  Young  Pious  Ruth 

For  her  first  born."  Left  all  for  Truth." 

"  Samuel  anoints  "  Young  Sam'  I  dear 

Whom  God  appoints.*''        The  Lord  did  fear, ," 

"  Time  cuts  doivn  all,          "  Young  Timothy 
Both  great  and  small."       Learnt  Sin  to  fly  " 

"Uriah's  beauteous  Wife,    "  F'asbti  for  Pride 
Made  Da-vid seek  bis  life."      Was  set  aside." 

Much  later,  in  the  present  century, 
when   children's  books  began  to  cater    The  Rhymed 
to  what  a  child  would  like,  a  reaction-  AlPhabet 

.  ...  modernized 

ary  spirit  reversed  this  evangelization 
and  stanzas  of  worldly  tendency  were 
actually  inserted  in  place  of  them  in 
some  editions.  These  substitution 
verses  were  : 


66  Introduction 


H.       "  Wrote  by  the  hand 

Great  <zut,rks  do  stand." 

K.       ""f/'i   Youth's  delight 
To  Jiy  their  kite.'" 

R.       "  The  Rose  in  bloom 

Sheds  sivect  ferj'ume." 

U.       "  Urns  hold,  ice  see 
Cliff ee  and  Tea.'"  l 

The  Puritan  however  did  not  approve 

these  changes,   and    they    were    rarely 

used.         Nor     were     the     evangelised 

rhymes  ever  adopted  in    Great  Britain. 

Other  and    less  noticeable  changes 

Minorcbanges   were  made,  of  which  the  following  are 

in  the  Rhymed  the    most    important    that    have    been 

Alphabet  r  , 

round  : 

"  The  Eagle1  s  flight  "  The  Egyptian  host 

Is  out  of  sight."  was  in  (be  red  sea  lost."  % 


1  "New  England  Primer,"  New  York:    1819. 

2  Ibid.    Wilmington:    1812. 


Introduction 


1  "  New  English  Tutor." 

2  "  New  England  Primer,"   1762. 

3  "  New  England  Primer."      Brattleboro,  1825. 


* 
*    * 


67 


"  Thy  life  to  mend  <l  Hea-ven  to  find 

This  book  attend. ' '  1  The  Bible  mind. ' '  '2 

"Queen  Esther  came  "Queen  Esther  sues 

in  royal  State,  And  saves  the  jfe<zvs."  '• 

To  save  the  Jeius 
from  dismal  Fate.'"''  ! 

"  Youth*  s  forward  slips,     "  Youth  onivard  slips 
Death  soonest  nips."  *          Death  soonest  nips." 

"  JVhile youth  do  chear       "No  Youth  ive  see 
Death  may  be  near. ' '  2        From  death  is  free. ' '  ;! 

"  Xerxes  the  great  did  dye    "  Xerxes  did  die, 
And  so  must  you  and  I." '1    And  so  must  /."  2 

There  were  some  few  other  varia- 
tions of  wording,  but  of  such  slight 
difference  as  not  to  need  notice. 


68  Introduction 


EVEN    more    famous   than   the 
rhymed   alphabet,  is  the   poem 
of  John  Rogers,  with  the  pic- 
J.AMU.^L.^  r     r1  '  , 

unto  his  ture    °»     tne    niartyr    burning    at    the 

children  stake,  and  "  his  Wife,  with  Nine  small 

Children,  and  one  at  her  Breast  "  look- 
ing on.  Much  sadness  this  poem  and 
print  must  have  cost  the  Puritan,  and 
even  now,  it  is  capable  of  producing 
a  sigh,  no  longer  because  one  feels 
so  keenly  for  the  man,  who  regardless 
of  wife  and  children,  insisted  on  being 
burnt,  and  really  forced  the  court 
against  its  will  to  make  a  martyr  ot 
him,  but  because  a  study  of  the  facts 
shows  that  the  use  of  this  poem  and 
story  was  nothing  but  a  piece  of  sec- 
tarian garbling  and  falsehood,  and  that 
all  the  pity  spent  upon  it  by  millions 
of  readers  was  no  more  deserved  than 


In  ADAM'S  Fall, 
We  finned  all. 


Heaven  to  find,. 
The  BIBLE  mind, 


CHRIST  crucify'd, 
For  Sinners  d/d. 


TheDelugedrown'd 
The  Earth  around. 

ELIJAH  hid, 
By  Ravens  fed. 

Thejudgment  made 
Felix  afraid. 


Rhymed  Alphabet  Pages 
(From  the  "  New  England  Primer."      Boston  ;    1762) 


As  runs  the  Glafs, 
Our  Life  doth  pafs. 


My  Book  and  Heart 
Mutl  never  part. 


IProud-  Kerah'sTroop 
fVallow'.d  up. 


Let  fled  to 

S'Sw  fiery  Shower 

Q&'Setfsw  pour. 

Ivlofes  was  he 
Who  Jfraefs  Hoft 
Led  thro*  tbe  Sea, 


Noah  did  view 
Theold  world  &  new. 


Young 
David,Jofias, 
All  were  pious. 

-Peter  deny'_d 

His  Lord  and  cry'd. 

Queen  Efihe*.  fues, 


Young  pious 
Left  alJ  fof  Truth-. 


Young  Sanwe 
The  Lord  did  fear. 


Young  Timothy 
Learnt  Sin  to  fly. 


Vajhti  for  Pride, 
Was  fet  afide. 


Whafes  in  the  Sea, 
GOD's  Voice  obey. 

Xerxes  did  die,, 
And  fo  muft  I. 

Whileyouth  dochcar 
Death  may  be  near. 


Zatcheus  he 

DW  climb  the  Tree, 

Our  Lord  toiee. 


MR.    JOHX    ROGERS,     Minifter  of    the 
Gfofpel    in  London,  was  the  firft  Mar- 
tyr HI  Queen  Marys  Reign,    and    was  burnt 
at    SmithfieU,    February     i  4th      1554,       His 
Wife   with    nine   -frnall     Children,     and    one 
at. her  Breaft,   following  him  to  the   Stake; 
with  -which  forrowful  Sight  he   was  not  in 
the  leaft  daunted,  but  with  wpnnderfuf  Pati- 
ence died  ccmrag'eoufly  for  the' G  of  pel  ofjelus 
Cfafift.  Some 

The  Burning  of  John  Rogers 
(From  the  "  New  England  Primer."      Boston  ;    1762) 


Introduction  69 

that     lavished    upon    the    unfortunate 
heroes  and   heroines   of  fiction. 

The  history  of  the  poem  so  far  as 
can  be  learned  is  as  follows.  In  the 
sixteenth  century  there  lived  a  man 
of  whom  Foxe,  in  his  "  Book  of 
Martyrs,"  wrote  : 

"  Robert   Smith    gave  himself  to  service  in 

the  house  of  sir  Thomas  Smith,  knight,  be-    Foxe'saccoum 

ing  then  provost  of  Eaton  :   from  thence  he    of  Robert 

was  preferred  to  Windsor,  having   there  in 

the  college  a  clerkship  of  ten  pounds  a  year. 

Of  stature   he  was   tall   and   slender,  active 

about    many   things,  but    chiefly   delighting 

in   the   art   of  painting,  which   many   times 

rather    for   his    mind's    sake,  than  for  any 

gain,   he    did    practice    and    exercise.      In 

religion   he  was   fervent,  after  he  had  once 

tasted    the    truth  ;    wherein  he   was  much 

confirmed  by  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Turner, 

of  Windsor,   and    others.      Whereupon   at 


70  .Introduction 

the  coming  of"  Queen  Marv  lie  was  de- 
prived of  his  clerkship  by  her  visitors  ;  and 
not  long  after  he  was  apprehended,  and 
brought  to  examination  before  Bonncr." 

At   this   point    Foxe   inserts   an    ac- 
count  of   the   trial   where   Smith 

"valiantly  stood  in  defence  of  his  master's 
Trial  and  cause  :  and  as  thou  secst  him  here  boldly 
Prison  Lijc  stand  in  examination  before  the  bishop  and 
doctors  ;  so  was  he  no  less  comfortable 
also  in  the  prison  among  his  companions  : 
which  also  is  to  be  observed  no  less  in  his 
other  fellow-prisoners,  who  being  together 
in  the  outward  room  in  Newgate,  had  godly 
conference  with  themselves,  with  daily  pray- 
ing and  public  reading,  which  they  to  their 
great  comfort  used  in  that  room  together  ; 
amongst  whom  Smith  was  the  chief;  whose 
industry  was  always  solicitous,  not  only  for 
them  of  his  own  company,  but  also  his 
diligence  was  careful  for  other  prisoners, 


Introduction  7 1 

whom  he  ceased  not  to  dissuade  from  their 
old  accustomed  iniquity  ;  and  many  he 
converted  to  his  religion. 

"The  said  Robert  Smith,  the  valiant 
and  constant  martyr  of  Christ,  being  thus  Burning  at 
replenished  as  ye  have  heard,  with  the  for-  the  Stake 
titude  of  God's  Spirit,  was  condemned  at 
London  bv  Bonner  their  bishop,  on  the 
I  2th  of  July  ;  and  suffered  at  Uxbridge  the 
8th  day  of  August ;  who  as  he  had  been 
before  a  comfortable  instrument  of  God  to 
all  them  that  were  in  prison  with  him  :  so 
now  also  being  at  the  stake,  he  did  no  less 
comfort  the  people,  there  standing  about 
him,  willing  them  to  think  well  of  his 
cause,  and  not  to  doubt  but  that  his  body 
dying  in  the  quarrel,  should  rise  again  to 
life.  And,  said  he,  I  doubt  not  but  God 
will  show  you  some  token  thereof.  At 
length  he  being  well  nigh  half  burnt,  and 
all  black  with  fire,  clustered  together  as  in 
a  lump  like  a  black  coal,  all  men  thinking 


7  2  Introduction 

him  dead,  suddenly  rose  upright  before  the 
people,  lifting  up  the  stumps  of  his  arms, 
and  clapping  the  same  together,  declaring  a 
rejoicing  heart  unto  them  ;  and  so  bending 
down  again,  and  hanging  over  the  fire,  slept 
in  the  Lord,  and  ended  this  mortal  life." 

To  a  skill  in  painting,  Mr.  Smith 
Robert  Smith  added  one  in  letters,  and  Foxe  states 
that  "  while  in  prison  he  wrote  several 
letters  to  his  friends,  some  in  verse, 
and  others  in  prose  ".  These  poetical 
letters  were  nearly  all  in  the  same 
metre,  part  of  one  to  a  friend  reading  : 

"  And  noiv  because  I  kno'ic  the  goal 
Poetical  Letter  That  thou  thst  most  desire 

to  a  Friend  I  send  thee  here  a  paper  full, 

As  fined  in  the  fire 
In  hope  thou  -milt  accept  it  icell 

Although  it  he  hut  small 
Because  I  hai'C  no  other  good 
To  make  amends  witfial.'"  ' 

1   Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs." 


complapnt 

of  <M  wtie,maDe  bp  3oi)n 


of 


%\)t  complapnt 
lertonant)  otl)cts,beut8  pzifo 
nets  in  holers  totoer, 


toastl)eircomfo:te 

C3  fonge  of  Caine  anD  nwi 
t:fte  fatengpf  maiftei:  ^ 
toofeti)emg!)t  before  Ije  fufferet),  fcp^ 
pon  a  iwall  tottl)  a  cole  ,i»  tin  neloe  3  n, 
at  <l3loceter,ant)  bi$  fating 


ANNO  DOMINI  . 


Introduction 


To  his  brother  he  also  wrote,  be- 
speaking his  care  for  his  wife  and 

"  Aho  my  daughter  dear 

Whom  I  bequeath  to  thee  Poetical  Letter 

To  be  brought  up  in  fear  to  his  brother 

And  learn  the  ABC 

That  she  may  grow  in  grace 
And  ruled  by  the  rod 
To  learn  and  lead  her  life 
Within  the  fear  of  God." 

Far  surpassing  these  poems  in  popu- 
larity, however,  was  the  "  Exhortation    Writing  and 
vnto   his   children  "   which   he  penned  Publhhins.  °f 

.  .  .  TIT    •  •          .fits  hxhorta- 

at    this    same    time.      Written    in  the   tion  unto  his 
year   in  which   he  was  burned  (1555),   children 
it  seems  to  have  been   printed   first  in 
1559    when   the    Stationers   Company 
directed     that    "  Owyn    Rogers     hath 
lycense   to    prynte    the    Instruction  for 
Cbyldren  ".  1     It  was  accordingly  issued 

1  Arber's  "Stationers'  Register,"  i.,<)6. 


74  Introduction 

in  that  year,  in  a  little  tract  of  Puritan 
writings,  on  the  title  of  which  it  was 
termed  u  An  exhortacion  of  Mathewe 
Rogers,  vnto  his  children  ",  in  the  body 
of  the  work  it  was  retitled  "  The  in- 
struction of  a  Father  to  his  Children, 
which  he  wrote  a  few  days  before  his 
burnynge ",  and  at  the  end  it  was 
signed  "  Finis  quod  Mathewe  Rogers." 
It  apparently  proved  a  work  of  some 
popularity  for  in  1577  the  Stationers 
Company  "Licensed  vnto"  John 
Arnold  the  issuing  of  another  edition 
of  the  tract. 

Why  the  name  of  Mathewe  Rogers 
Substitution  of  was    substituted   for   that  of   the  true 

Rogers"  Name    ^^^    can     not    be    discovered,    UllleSS, 

Rogers  being  the  earliest,  and  there- 
fore the  best  known  of  the  "  reformed  " 
Martyrs,  the  printer  reasoned  that  his 


Introduction  7  5 

name  would  cause  a  greater  sale.  The 
change  of  his  true  cognomen  John  to 
Mathew,  is  more  easily  explained,  for 
under  the  pen  name  of  Thomas 
Mathew,  Rogers  had  helped  Tyndale 
in  translating  the  scriptures,  and  thus 
he  was  often  called  Mathew  Rogers. 
But  this  foisting  of  Lhe  poem  of 
Smith  on  to  Rogers  by  no  means  ended  New  England 
the  garbling.  In  the  New  England  p«mer  "c- 

n    •  i  i         r    T-I  count  of  'Jo/in 

rnmer,  a  short  sketch  or   Rogers  was   R0£er,   " 
inserted,  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  John  Rogers,  Minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel in  London,  was  the  First  Martyr  in 
Queen  Mary's  Reign,  and  was  burnt  in 
Smithfield,  February  the  I4th,  1554.  His 
Wife  with  nine  small  Children,  and  one  at 
her  Breast,  follow'd  him  to  the  Stake,  with 
which  sorrowful  Sight,  he  was  not  in  the 
least  daunted,  but  with  wonderful  Patience, 


76 


Introduction 


liters 


Dyed  couragiously  for  the  Gospel  of  [esus 
Christ." 

This  is  more  remarkable  for  mis- 
True  account  statement  than  for  fact.  Rogers  was 
•fjohn  a  priest  sworn  to  celibacy,  who  be- 

coming converted,  broke  his  vow  and 
took  unto  himself  a  wife.  When,  on 
the  accession  of  Alary,  he  refused  to 
put  the  woman  away,  he  was  con- 
demned to  death,  and  was  burned  at 
the  stake  on  February  4th,  1555,  ('"  old 
style"  February  the  14,  1554)  being, 
as  Foxe  said  "  the  first  martyr  of  all 
the  blessed  company  that  suffered  in 
Queen  Mary's  time,  that  gave  the  first 
adventure  upon  the  fire".1  Further- 
more, his  wife  and  children  did  not 
see  him  burned,  for  Foxe  merely  stated 
that :  "  His  wife  and  children,  being 

1  Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs." 


Introduction  7  7 

eleven  in  number,  ten  able  to  go,  and 
one  sucking  at  her  breast,  met  him  by 
the  way  as  he  went  towards  Smithfield  : 
this  sorrowful  sight  of  his  own  flesh 
and  blood  could  nothing  move  him, 
but  he  constantly  and  cheerfully  took 
his  death  with  wonderful  patience,  in 
the  defence  of  the  gospel  of  Christ". 
Worth  noting  in  this  connection  is 
one  question  over  which  there  has  The  number 
been  much  controversy,  being  the  °J  7°, 
exact  number  of  children  thus  left  children 
fatherless.  The  Primer,  as  will  be 
seen,  gave  him  "  nine  small  children  and 
one  at  the  breast "  but  printers  read 
this  differently,  sometimes  giving  nine, 
and  sometimes  ten,  in  the  picture. 
At  his  trial,  Rogers  said  distinctly  that 
he  had  ten  children,  while  Foxe  !  speaks 

1   Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs." 


Introduction 


of  his  "  children,  being  eleven  in  num- 
ber, ten  able  to  go,  and  one  sucking  ". 
The  explanation  of  this  discrepancy  is 
probably  due  to  the  fact  that  Rogers 
was  held  in  prison  for  over  a  year,  and 
debarred  during  that  period  from  all 
news  of  his  wife,  in  which  time  it  is 
obvious  the  eleventh  child  was  born, 
since  at  the  time  of  his  burning  it  was 
still  unweaned. 


o 


UF  greater  importance  than  the 
Roger  verses  but   of  far    less 
popularity  was  the  Catechism, 
which  usuall.V  followed   close  upon  the 
poem.        In     all     eighteenth      century 
Primers    examined    this    consisted    of 
either    the     Westminster    Assembly's 


f{  The  S  HOKTEK  ;t£ 

I  CATECHISM  fe 

^  Compfifrd    by  fbg  fiv 

A    REVEREND    ASSEMBLY    of     t? 

I      DIVINES     1 

&          At  WESTMINSTER. 

Proofr  fkerecfoHt  ofthsScriptures 

are  eit  her  fome  of  the  former-  ^ 
^C'  ly  quoted  places,  or  others  gathered  ^9b 
^J  fromtherr  other  Wrirings^ all  fitted  •% 
^  both  forBrevity^  C?earnefs,tothis  X 
V  thetr  Form  of  Sound  WOY<JS. 
§For  the  Benefif  of  Cfindians  in  ge-  ^ 

^  veral,  and  of  Tout  h  &  Chtldrfn-i,,  un-  g\\ 
^  derftantfo-ng  in  particular;  that  they™ 
$$  may  with  rr<ore  eafe  acquaint  them*  ^ 
/f/i/ejf  \ofth  the  Truth  act  or  ding  to  the  ^ 
fcf  Scripture s  .^* 


by  ^.  W^rrrj,  and  J. 
and  are  to  be -Sold  at  the 
Coffee  Houfe.      1691 


i* 


Introduction  79 

"  Shorter  Catechism  "  or  John  Cot- 
ton's "  Spiritual  Milk  for  Babes  "  and 
in  a  number  of  editions  both  were  in- 
cluded. Several  nineteenth  century 
editions  of  the  New  England  Primer 
contained  besides  the  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism, the  Episcopal  as  well,  but  no 
early  edition  found  contains  what  was 
so  alien  to  all  the  rest  of  the  work. 

The      Shorter     Catechism  —  "  that 
Golden       Composure,"       as      Cotton   History  of  the 
Mather    termed    it  —  was    framed    by    Shorter  Cate- 

TIT  •  A  it         chism 

the  great  Westminster  Assembly, 
which  was  called  together  by  the 
Round-Head  Parliament  and  was  com- 
posed of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one 
clergymen  or  presbyters,  thirty  of  the 
laity,  chiefly  of  the  nobility,  and  five 
special  commissioners  from  Scotland, 
and  Baxter  claimed  "that  the  Chris- 


So  Introduction 

tian  world,  since  the  days  of"  the 
Apostles,  never  had  a  Synod  of  more 
excellent  divines  ".  This  assembly 
met  hrst  on  July  i  o,  1643,  and  dis- 
solved itself  on  March  3,  1649,  hav- 
ing held  in  the  six  years  no  less 
than  eleven  hundred  and  sixtv-three 
sessions. 

Compared  to  Herbert's  catechism 
Length  and  entitled  "  The  Careful  Father  and 
consent  p|  Child"  (London,  1648)  which 

loathing  .  i          .         T       i 

contained  over  twelve  Hundred  ques- 
tions and  answers,  the  assembly's  cate- 
chism might  well  be  termed  "shorter". 
As  a  fact  however  this  title  was  given 
merely  to  distinguish  it  from  the  larger 
catechism  put  forth  bv  this  Assembly, 
and  its  one  hundred  and  seven  ques- 
tions, the  answers  to  which  ranged  in 
length  from  eight  to  one  hundred 


Introduction  8 1 

words,  made  it  a  nightmare  to  child- 
ren. Nor  did  the  elders  fail  to  realize 
its  terrors.  Livermore  found  in  a  New 
England  court  record,  a  penalty  im- 
posed on  an  apple  stealing  youngster, 
that  he  was  to  choose  whether  he 
would  be  imprisoned  for  a  stated  time, 
or  before  the  Saturday  night  ensuing 
learn  and  repeat  to  the  magistrate  the 
whole  of  the  catechism.  Rev.  Heman 
Humphreys,  though  a  Congregational 
clergyman  and  the  president  of  Am- 
herst  College,  acknowledged  that  his 
recollection  "  accords  with  the  expe- 
rience of  thousands,  who  like  myself, 
once  loathed  the  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism ",!  and  when  it  is  considered 
that  children  of  tour  and  five  years 
of  age  were  expected  to  repeat,  with 

1   "  New  England  Primer,"  Worcester:   [1850?] 

6 


8  2  Introduction 


absolute  verbal  correctness,  the  terrible 
answers  defining  u  justification  ", 
u  sanctification  ",  and  "glorification  ", 
or  stand  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  congregation,  the  word  seems 
by  no  means  too  strong.  Another  cler- 
gyman acknowledged  that  "  when  the 
Venerable  Assembly  composed  this 
form  of  Instruction,  it  seems  that 
few  of  themselves  tho't  it  design'd  or 
fitted  for  Babes,  some  answers  being 
so  long  and  so  full  of  great  sense  that 
tho'  they  might  recite  the  Words,  that 
can  be  of  little  Benefit,  till  they  also 
apprehend  the  meaning".1 

None    the    less    the    children    were 
A  Jai/v  task      drilled    in   this   catechism   unsparingly. 

for  Children         jn   church   an(j    at   schooj   ;,.    w 


1   Noble's    "Beginners'     Catechism."       London: 

1707. 


Introduction  83 

a  daily  task.  As  if  this  were  not 
sufficient  Cotton  Mather  even  advised 
mothers  to  catechise  their  children 
"  every  day,"  adding  "  you  may  be 
continually  dropping  something  of  the 
Catechism  upon  them  :  Some  Honey  out 
of  the  Rock!"  and  he  told  parents  that : 

"The   Souls  of  your    Children  made  a 

Cry  in  your  Ears,  O  Parents  ;  a  cry  enough  Mr.  Cotton 

to  break  an  Heart  of  Adamant.      They  are  Mather .-  his 

Born   Children  of  Wrath;  and   when  they  */ew*f? 

/  '      Catecnising 

grow   up,   you   have   no   way  to  save  them 

from  the  dreadful  Wrath  of  God,  if  you  do 
not  Catechise  them  in  the  Way  of  Salvation. 
They  cry  to  you  ;  O  our  dear  Parents  ; 
Acquaint  us  with  the  Great  God,  and  His 
Glorious  Christ,  that  so  Good  may  come 
unto  us  !  Let  us  not  go  from  your  Tender 
Knees,  down  to  the  Place  of  Dragons.  Oh ! 
Not  Parents,  but  Ostriches :  Not  Parents, 
but  Prodigies  !  What,  but  more  cruel  than 


84  Introduction 


the  Sea-Mo/isters  are  the  Parents,  who  will 
not  be  moved  by  such  Thoughts  as  these, 
to  Draw  out  the  Breasts  of  the  Catechism, 
unto  their  Young  Ones  !  One  would  think, 
Pare/its,  Your  own  Bowels,  if  you  have 
not  Monstrously  lost  them,  would  Suggest 
enough  to  persuade  you  unto  the  Pleasant 
Labours  of  the  Catechism" 

Yet  even  Mather  acknowledged  that  the 
Shorter  Catechism  had  difficulties  for 
very  young  children,  by  preparing  a 
briefer  and  simpler  one,  that  instead  of 
taxing  children  of  the  "  Youngest  and 
Lowest  Capacities,"  with  the  catechism 
of  the  Assembly,  "This  little  Watering 
Pot  may  be  quickly  so  used  upon  the 
little  Olive  Plants  about  our  tables,  that, 
not  a  drop  of  the  heavenly  dew  con- 
tained in  it  shall  escape  them  ".' 
1  "  Man  of  God  Furnished:"  i~o8. 


Introduction  8  5 

Nor   was   the   catechism  used   only 
for    the    catechising    of    the    younger   Sermonising 
generation,  for  it  was  frequently  made    °"the  Cate~ 

,  .  r  ill         caism 

the  subject  or  sermons  to  the  elder 
portions  of  the  congregation,  Mather 
relating  that  Rev.  John  Fiske  "chose 
the  Assembly's  Catechism  for  his 
public  expositions,  wherewith  he  twice 
went  over  it,  in  his  discourses  before 
his  afternoon  sermons."  The  largest 
book  printed  in  New  England  before 
the  nineteenth  century,  was  Samuel 
Willard's  "  Complete  Body  of  Divin- 
ity in  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty  Ex- 
pository Lectures  on  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism  "  —  a  mammoth 
folio  of  over  nine  hundred  pages,  of 
such  popularity  that  before  publication 
more  than  five  hundred  subscribers 
were  obtained,  many  of  whom  bespoke 


86  Introduction 

more    than    one    copy,    and    some    as 

many   as   sixteen. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  the 

Assembly's  Catechism  appeared  in  the 

very  earliest  editions  of  the  New  Eng- 
Early  editions  land  Primer,  but  from  the  fact  that 
oj  the  Pnmer  fjarr|s  printed  a  separate  edition  of 

and  the  '  .  .  .          .    r 

CatecAism  the  catechism  in  the  same  year  that 
the  second  impression  of  the  Primer 
was  issued,  the  evidence  seems  far 
more  in  favor  of  its  inclusion  than 
against  it. 


* 
*   * 


E< 
: 


QUALLY   popular  at  first  in 
Carton's  f~~4     America     was     John    Cotton's 

Spiritual  Milk         ^"Spiritual   Milk  for   American 

Babes,"  Mather  being  authority  for 
the  statement  that  in  1697  "the 
children  of  New  England  are  to  this 


MILK 

FOR 

BABES. 

DRAWN 
Out  of  the  Brcafts  of  both 

Tfi  STAMENTS, 

Chiefly ,for  the  fpiricuall  nourifKment 

of  Heft  on  Babes  in  either  England: 

Buc  may  be  of  like  ufe  for  any 

Children, 


"By  JOHH   COTTON,  #. Z>. 
a*d  Teacher  to  the  Church  qflBofton 

in  New- England. 

LONDON, 

Printed  by  J*  Coe,  for  Henry  Overto», 
and  arc  to  be  fold  at  his  Shop,  in 
es-l}ead  Alley, 
1646. 


Introduction  8  7 


day  most  usually  fed  with  this  ex- 
cellent catechism  "  1  and  he  called  it 
"  peculiarly,  The  Catechism  of  New 
England." 

Of  the  author  Mather  wrote  : 

"  Were  I  master  of  the  pen,  wherewith 
Palladius    embalmed    his    Cbrysostom,    the    Some  Account 
Greek   patriark,  or   Posidonius  eternized  his    °J  Mr-  Cotton 
Austin,   the  Latin    oracle,   among    the  an- 
cients ;    or,    were    I    owner    of    the    quill 
wherewith  among  the  moderns,  Beza  cele- 
brated his  immortal    Calvin,  or  Fabius  im- 
mortalized his  venerable  Beza;  the  merits 
of  John  Cotton  would  oblige  me  to  employ 
it,  in  the  preserving  his  famous  memory  ".2 

It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  he  was  born 
in  1585,  went  through  Cambridge 
University  and  became  successively 
fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Dean  of 

1   Mather's  "  Magnalia."  -   Ibid. 


8  8  Introduction 


Emmanuel  College,  and  minister  at 
Boston  in  Lincolnshire.  Ik-coming 
while  there  a  non-conformist,  he  was 
"silenced  "  for  a  while,  but  eventually 
was  allowed  once  more  to  preach,  and 
in  his  twenty  years  pastorate  at  Boston 
"  he  thrice  went  over  the  body  of  divin- 
ity in  a  catecbistical  ivay,  and  besides 
his  '  Lord's  day  '  sermons  "  gave  "  his 
ordinary  lecture  every  week,  on  the 
iveek  da\s,  namely  on  Wednesdays  and 
Tbursda\s,  early  in  the  morning,  and 
on  Saturdays,  at  three  in  the  after- 
noon ",  with  such  results  to  Boston 
that  "  religion  was  embraced,  and  prac- 
ticed among  the  body  of  the  people  ; 
yea  the  mayor,  with  most  part  of  the 
magistrates,  were  now  called  Puritans, 
and  the  Satanical  party  was  become 
insignificant  ". 


Introduction  89 

Finally  the  High  Commission  Court, 
popularly  known  as  the  Star  Chamber,   Flies  to  Amer- 

began    proceedings    against    him.    and    Ka  and  be~ 

,        •  11,-.  i     c"mes  a 

changing  name  and   garb,  Cotton  took   Leader 

ship  for  New  England  with  two  other 
clergymen,  the  three  lightening  the 
tedium  of  the  passage  by  daily  sermons 
"  all  the  while  they  were  aboard,  yea 
they  had  three  sermons,  or  expositions, 
for  the  most  part  every  day  :  of  Mr. 
Cotton  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Hooker  in 
the  afternoon,  Mr.  Stone  after  supper 
in  the  evening ".  Upon  arriving 
at  Boston  he  was  promptly  made 
"  teacher "  of  the  first  church  there, 
and  very  quickly  came  to  wield  a 
power  in  that  theocratic  settlement 
akin  to  that  now  exercised  by  a  politi- 
cal boss.  He  was  invited  to  return 
to  England  when  the  Puritans  gained 


9o 


Introduction 


the  upper  hand,  to  take  part  in  the 
"  Westminster  Assembly "  but  de- 
clined. Nothing  perhaps  better  typi- 
fies the  man  than  when  on  "being 
asked  why  in  his  latter  days  he  in- 
dulged in  nocturnal  studies  more  than 
formerly,  he  pleasantly  replied,  Because 
I  love  to  sweeten  my  mouth  with  a  piece 
of  Calvin  before  I  go  to  sleep".1 

Cotton  presumably  prepared  the 
Prepares  Milk  for  Babes  in  1641,  at  the  time 
Milk  for  the  u  General  Corte  "  asked  the  elders 

Babes  .  .  . 

to  prepare  a  catechism,  as  already  re- 
corded, and  probably  it  was  printed  at 
Cambridge  by  Dave,  between  1641 
and  1645.  No  copy  of  this  edition 
is  known  however,  and  the  first  edi- 
tion of  which  a  copy  is  now  extant  is 
one  printed  in  London  in  1646.  It 

1  Mather's  "Magnalia." 


Introduction 


was  again  printed  there  in  1648  and 
1668,  and  in  1656  an  edition  was  is- 
sued at  Cambridge  in  New  England. 
After  1690  its  inclusion  in  many  edi- 
tions of  the  New  England  Primer 
somewhat  checked  the  printing  of 
separate  issues,  but  an  edition  in  the 
Indian  tongue  was  printed  at  Boston 
in  1691,  and  this  was  reprinted  in 
1720.  In  1702  Mather  abridged  and 
combined  it  with  the  Assembly's  cate- 
chism and  one  of  his  own  and  issued 
it  under  the  title  of  "  Maschil,  or  The 
Faithful  Instructor  ",  and  other  edi- 
tions of  this  form  of  the  work  were 
issued  with  the  title  of  "  The  Man  of 
God  Furnished"  (Boston  1708)  and 
"  The  Way  of  Truth  laid  out  " 
(Boston  1721).  In  these,  Mather 
asserted  that  Milk  for  Babes  "  will  be 


92  Introduction 

valued  and  studied  and  improved 
until  New  England  cease  to  be  New 
England." 

While  by  no  means  as  popular  as 
Milk  for  Mr.  Cotton's  metaphorical  title  would 
Babes  «w-  jeaj  one  to  expect,  it  must  be  con- 

pared  ivtt/i         r          .      .          .       .  .      .  .     .     . 

the  Shorter  fessed  that  it  is  a  decided  improve- 
Catechism  ment  on  the  Shorter  Catechism,  if  not 
in  soundness  of  doctrine,  at  least  in 
length.  In  place  of  one  hundred  and 
seven  questions,  there  were  but  sixty- 
four  and  instead  of  replies  ranging  in 
length  from  eight  to  one  hundred 
words,  one  answer  was  a  single  word, 
and  the  longest  only  contained  eighty- 
four. 


* 
*    * 


Introduction  93 

THE  last  piece  of  any  impor- 
tance   which    can    be    consi-   Dialogue  he- 
dered     an     integrant    of    the   tween  Christ, 

X.T  T^        i         i      ii   •  •  i  ^  outh  and 

New  tngland  rrimer,  is  what  was  t}ie  Devil 
called  u  A  Dialogue  between  Christ, 
Youth  and  the  Devil",  a  poem  relat- 
ing to  a  tempted  youth,  who  despite 
the  warning  of  his  Redeemer  suc- 
cumbs to  the  wiles  of  the  horny  footed 
tempter,  and  makes  an  effective  exit 
at  the  end  of  the  dialogue  without  the 
assistance  of  any  stage  directions,  but 
with,  it  is  presumable,  the  glare  of 
subterranean  regions,  in  place  of  the 
more  professional  Calcium  light. 

This  dialogue   form  was   a  favorite 
medium   of   the    seventeenth   century.    „     ,    •      /. 

J        ropularity  oj 

111    1671    Thomas    Sherman    issued  a   Dialogue  form 
tract  called  "  Youth's  Tragedy,  drawn 
up  by  way  of  Dialogue  between  Youth, 


Introduction 


the  Devil,  Wisdom,  Time,  Death,  the 
Soul,  and  the  Nuncius ",  which  was 
many  times  reprinted.  So  too,  an 
anonymous  poem  entitled  "  An  Excel- 
lent Example  to  all  young  Men,  being 
a  Dialogue  betwixt  Youth  and  Con- 

O 

science    and     Satan  "    was    issued     in 

London  in   1684.      Still  a  third,  called 

"  The  Youth's  Looking   Glass,  being 

a    divine    Dialogue    between    a   young 

Man,   Satan,   and    our    Saviour    Jesus 

Christ  ",  was    printed    without   a  date. 

None  of  these  were  the  same  as  the 

Authorship  cf  Dialogue   used   in   the    Primer,  and   as 

Dialogue  no  printing  of  it  can  be  found  pre-dat- 

ing  its  appearance   in  that   publication, 

it  seems  probable  that  it  was  composed 

by  the  man   whom   Dunton  described 

as  u  the  neat  and  poetical  Ben  Harris  ". 

It    is    proper   to   note   that   unlike  the 


Introduction  95 


portions  already  described  it  was  not 
always  included  in  the  New  England 
Primer,  but  as  it  is  contained  in  the 
Bradford  fragment,  and  in  Harris' 
"New  English  Tutor",  as  well  as  in 
nine  editions  of  the  Primer  printed  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  it  has  seemed 
best  to  treat  it  as  one  of  the  true 
pieces  that  went  to  mark  the  little 
book. 


* 

*    * 


SUCH   were   the    main   contents 
of  the  Primer,  but  many  smaller   Minor  ya, 
pieces,  in  which  far  greater  vari-  tlo"s '"  t/ie 
i  111         Primer 

ation  was  shown,  were  used  by  the 
printers  to  fill  in  between  the  more 
important  portions,  and  to  pad  out  at 
the  end  so  as  to  complete  the  last 
signature.  Few  of  these  minor  pieces 


96 


Introduction 


can  be  positively  identified,  hut  as  they 
go  to  make  a  history  of  the  hook,  and 
as  their  chronology  is  of  some  value 
in  settling  the  approximate  decade  of 
imperfect  copies  of  the  Primer,  they 
deserve  some  attention. 

In  the  second  edition  of  the  Primer, 

Pra\cr  of         as  the  ad\  ert isement  states,  the  Prayer 

Edwrdrith    Of   Edvvartl    VI,    takcn    from    Foxe's 

u  Hook    of  Martyrs  "  was   given,  and 

this     prayer     appears     in    the    "  New 

English  Tutor  ",  but  no  Primer  extant 

contains  it. 

The     New     English     Tutor,    The 

Text  r,f  Ear-    Protestant  Tutors  of  1715,  and  i/i6, 

liest  Editions     and  the  New  England  Primer  of  1727 

contain    the   ten    commandments,   the 

"  Names  and  Orders  of  the  Books  of 

the    Old   and    New   Testament  "  and 

"  Numeral  Letters  and  Figures,  which 


Introduction  9  7 

may  serve  for  the  ready  finding  of  any 
Chapter  and  Verse  in  the  Bible". 
None  of  these  were  included  in  the 
later  eighteenth  century  editions. 

In  the  edition  of  1737  a  longish 
"Verses  for  Children"  beginning  Text  of  edition 
"Though  I  am  but  a  little  one"  °f '737 
appeared  for  the  first  time,  and  was 
included  in  many  subsequent  editions. 
This  edition  also  gave  a  part  of  the 
"  Duty  of  Children  towards  their 
Parents"  which  had  been  given  in 
the  "  New  English  Tutor  ".  The  only 
other  edition  with  this  was  one  printed 
in  London  in  1781.  Most  remark- 
able of  all  in  this  edition  was  its 
printing  of  the  lines  : 

"  Noiv  I  lay  me  doivn  to  sleep 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep 
If  I  should  die  before  I  -^vake 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take." 
7 


98 


Introduction 


The  author  of  these  famous  lines  is 
unknown,  and  this  is  their  first  ap- 
pearance in  print,  so  far  as  can  be 
discovered.  They  were  included  in 
almost  every  subsequent  edition  of 
the  Primer. 

With  the  evangelization  of  the 
Text  of  the  Primer  between  1740  and  1760,  be- 
E-vangelisted  sijes  the  change  in  the  rhymed 

Editions  ill  •    i          i  • 

alphabet  other  material  alterations 
were  introduced.  In  the  earliest  edi- 
tion extant  so  revised  the  chief  vari- 
ations are  the  introduction  of  Watts' 
Divine  Song  for  Children,  his  Cradle 
Hymn,  and  his  Morning  and  Evening 
Prayers,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Clap's  "  Ad- 
vice to  his  Children,"  "  Agurs  Prayer," 
(which  had  appeared  in  the  u  New 
English  Tutor")  and  "  Some  Proper 
Names  of  Men  and  Women."  All 


Introduction  99 

these  additions  proved  fairly  popular, 
though  the  parts  by  Watts  were  the 
most  so,  and  they  formed  the  text  of 
most  editions  of  the  Primer  issued 
between  1762  and  1790.  A  minor 
addition  was  the  insertion  of  a  short 
set  of  questions,  beginning  "  Who  was 
the  first  Man  ",  and  all  to  be  answered 
from  the  Bible.  This  was  lengthened 
or  shortened  at  the  will  of  each 
printer,  and  in  the  Salem  edition  of 
1784  the  printer  so  far  departed 
from  sacred  text,  as  to  ask  "Who 
saved  America  "  and  "  Who  betrayed 
America,"  the  answers  being  "  George 
Washington  "  and  "  Benedict  Arnold." 
About  1790  a  very  marked  change 
was  made  by  printers  taking  some  mun- 
dane rhymes  from  an  English  publi- 
cation entitled  the  "  Royal  Primer  ", 


I  oo  Introduction 

describing   various    animals,   with    pic- 
Tcxt  of  the       tares  of  them.      From  this  source  were 
ajso  taken  a  u  Description  of  a   Good 


Boy  ",  a  "  Description  of  a  Bad 
Boy,"  and  poems  on  "  The  Good 
Girl"  and  "The  Naughty  Girl". 
Their  insertion  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  end,  for  no  longer  salvation  was 
promised  to  the  good,  and  unending 
fire  to  the  bad,  but  "  pert  Miss  Prat-a- 
pace  "  was  to  have  none  of  the 
"  Orange,  Apples,  Cakes,  or  Nuts  " 
promised  to  "  pretty  Miss  Prudence," 
and  the  naughty  urchin  was  only 
threatened  with  beggary  while  the  good 
boy  was  promised  "  credit  and  reputa- 
tion ".  Worst  of  all  was  the  insertion 
of  a  short  poem  which  should  have 
made  the  true  Puritan  turn  in  his 
grave,  for  instead  of  teaching  that  let- 


He  th&t  fhtfj  harn  Us  Aj&-  C 

"V-jwri  'crest" 


&m%    E 


~  Q-G-oat 


r^ 


W*fy 


J  J»& 


~L  .jUttifmiffiiti 


Cuts  of  Animals 
(From  the  "New  England  Primer."      Newburyport  [N.  D.]) 


Introduction  \  o  I 

ters  were  to  be  learned,  that  the  Bible 
might  be  read,  and  that  the  figures 
were  to  be  acquired  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  chapter  and  verse  in  that  work, 
it  said  : 

"  He  iuho  ne'er  learns  his  A.  B.  C. 
Forever  'will  a  blockhead  be. 
But  he  ivho  learns  his  letters  fair 
Shall  have  a  coach  to  take  the  air." 

The  change,  nevertheless  proved  pop- 
ular, alas,  and  quite  a  number  of 
editions  between  1790  and  1 800  contain 
more  or  less  of  these  worldly  additions. 
Of  these  successive  variations  in  the 
American  primer,  British  editions  took  Un-var\ing- 
no  heed,  and  they  constitute  a  class  by  >lcs*°j*-»g- 

.  .  .  .-  ITT        •   j     •  "s"  Editions 

themselves.  Although  Harris  issue 
of  the  Primer  in  Old  England  con- 
tained Cotton's  "  Milk  for  Babes," 
later  English  editions  did  not  include 


IO2  Introduction 


it.  But  aside  from  the  standard  con- 
tents of  the  Primer,  there  were  added 
"  The  History  of  the  Creation,"  a 
poetical  "  Advice  to  Children,"  a  "  Col- 
lection of  the  best  English  Proverbs," 
and  a  number  of  shorter  pieces. 


N 


O    account    of   the    Primer 

The  "  Adorn-  "^^1     would     be     Complete    Without 

"Lcnt"  ™:th  ^    some   notice   of  the   illustra- 

Cu  ts  .* 

tions,  which  alone  of  all  its  contents 
bid  for  popular  favor  from  the  children. 
In  the  Protestant  Tutor  as  printed  by 
Harris  in  1679,  is  a  frontispiece  type- 
metal  cut  of  Charles  I.  and  from  the 
fact  that  the  New  English  Tutor  and 
the  1727  edition  of  the  Primer  both 
lack  the  preliminary  leaf  of  the  first 


Portrait  of  Charles  II 
(From  the  "  Protestant  Tutor."      London  :    16-9) 


&EORGE  tfe 
GtawmM  .Sfptwh*  22<J 


From  the  "  Xc\v  I'nyland  Primer,"      Boston  :    i~62j 


crowned 


(From  the  "  New  England  Primer."      Providence:    1775) 


Introduction  103 

signature  it  is  a  safe  assumption  that 
these  two  books  each  began  with  a  The  English 
portrait  of  the  Royal  personage  reign-  K'"S- 
ing  at  the  time  of  their  issue.  The 
Protestant  Tutor  of  1716  has  a  cut  of 
George  I.  The  Primer  of  1737  gives 
a  very  fairly  executed  portrait  of 
George  II.  In  1762,  though  news  of 
the  death  of  this  monarch  had  reached 
Boston,  yet  in  an  edition  of  the  book 
printed  there  in  that  year,  there  either 
was  too  little  time,  or  the  printer  was 
too  economical,  to  prepare  a  new  cut, 
so  an  additional  stroke  of  the  burin 
changed  a  II.  into  a  III.,  and  thus  a 
portrait  of  George  III.  was  impro- 
vised, which  in  its  striking  likeness  to 
his  father  clearly  shows  the  wonderful 
influence  of  heredity. 

The  Primer  of  1770  was  more  his- 


1 04  Introduction 


torically  correct,  giving  a  genuine 
His  American  though  very  crude  portrait  of  George 
Successors  jjj  Again  however,  the  printer  was 
called  upon,  by  the  American  Revo- 
lution, to  change  his  frontispiece,  and 
in  1776  the  portrait  of  the  Royal 
George  was  merely  relabelled,  and 
came  forth  as  the  republican  "  John 
Hancock  ",  the  likeness  between  these 
two  being,  it  is  needless  to  say,  very 
extraordinary  considering  that  they 
were  representatives  of  such  opposite 
parties.  In  the  Boston  edition  of 
1777  a  correct  portrait  of  Hancock 
was  achieved,  and  in  an  edition  printed 
in  Hartford  in  the  same  year  a  portrait 
of  Samuel  Adams,  another  hero  of  the 
hour,  was  given.  At  the  end  of  the 
revolution,  the  standard  portrait  be- 
came that  of  Washington,  and  the 


(From  the  "  American  Primer."      Boston:    1776) 


THE  HON.   SAMUEL 
ADAMS 


(From  the  "New  England  Primer."      Hartford:   1777) 


Introduction 


only  exception  to  the  use  of  his  feat- 
ures, when  any  portrait  was  given  in 
subsequent  editions,  is  one  of  Isaac 
Watts  printed  in  a  Worcester  edition 
issued  about  1850. 

The  changes  in  the  rhymed  alphabet 
cuts    have     already      been     described.    The  Rhymed 
One   important   fact   however,   is    the   Alphabet  Cuts 
use  of  some  of  the  little  pictures  in  a 
work  written  by  Harris  entitled  "  The 
Holy  Bible  In  Verse."      Harris  adver- 
tised this  book   as  early  as   1701,  and 
in  an  edition  printed  in  1717  all  of  the 
cuts  are  clearly  taken  from  his  edition 
of  the   New   England   Primer. 

The    print  of  John    Rogers   at  the 
stake  has  also  been  mentioned.    There    The  Prints  of 
is   a    picture   of  the  scene    in    Foxe's   3ohn  R°Sers 
"  Book  of  Martyrs,"  but  this  departs 
from   the  standard  of  the  Primer  cuts, 


1 06  Introduction 


by  not  having  wife  and  children  pres- 
ent. The  earliest  cut  found  to  include 
them  is  contained  in  the  "  New  Eng- 
lish Tutor,"  and  the  identical  block 
used  in  that  work  is  also  used  in 
Harris'  edition  of  the  u  Protestant 
Tutor"  of  1715-  Probably  the 
most  curious  of  all  is  that  contained 
in  the  Albany  edition  of  1 8 1 8,  in  which 
the  guards  are  costumed  in  the  local 
militia  uniform  of  the  day,  with  great 
plumes  in  their  shakos,  but  scarcely 
less  odd  is  that  in  the  Lansingburg, 
1810  edition,  in  which  the  executioner 
is  given  a  continental  cocked  hat. 

In    the  "New    English    Tutor"  a 

The  Pope,  or    print  is  given  of  "  The   Pope  or  Man 

Man  of  Sin      of  gin"  which  was  originally  beyond 

question    a    cut    used    to   illustrate  the 

signs  of  the  zodiac  in  an  almanac,  for 


62       t8#e  Ufcto  Cngtf  to 

The  POPE*  or  Man  of  Sins 


(From  the  "  New  English  Tutor."      London  :    [1702-1714  ?]  ) 


Queen,  1737 
From  the  "New  England  Primer."      Boston:    1737 


Introduction  i  o  7 

it  is  exactly  like  them  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  addition  of  a  tiara  to  the 
otherwise  naked  figure.  To  utilize 
the  zodiacal  lines  and  letters  radiating 
from  the  body,  Harris  added  a  key 
or  explanation  which  replaced  Aries, 
Taurus,  Cancer,  Scorpion,  etc.,  with 
Heresy,  Disorder,  Malice,  Murder 
and  Treachery,  etc.,  and  which  called 
on  the  "  Child  "  to  "behold  that  Man 
of  Sin,  the  Pope,  worthy  thy  utmost 
Hatred."  This  print  was  reproduced 
in  the  Primer  of  1737,  but  no  key  was 
added,  so  that  the  "  Child  "  must  have 
been  not  a  little  puzzled  to  know  what 
the  rays  and  letters  meant. 

There  was  a  worse  lapse,  however, 
in   this   edition    of    1737,  for  the   last    The  Devil's 
leaf   prints   an    engraving   which    cer-   Plcture  Car(^ 
tainly  was  nothing  less  than  the  block 


1 08  Introduction 

of  the  queen  in  playing  cards,  for  con- 
temporary packs  have  just  such  queens. 
To  find  such  a  print  in  the  godly 
New  England  Primer  is  perhaps  the 
most  curious  fact  yet  known,  and  can 
only  be  accounted  for  by  the  proba- 
bility that  its  purchasers  were  so 
ignorant  of  the  appearance  of  the 
"  Devil's  picture  cards  "  that  they  did 
not  recognize  its  prototype. 

The  "  New  English  Tutor  "  con- 
Bihlical  and  taincd  pictures  of  Death,  Judgment, 
Wildly  II-  Heaven,  and  Hell,  but  these  do  not 

lustrations  .  .  .      .  . 

seem  to  have  been  repeated  in  the 
Primer.  Kindred  illustrations  how- 
ever, of  "  Adam  and  Eve ",  the 
"  Nativity  and  the  Passion  ",  u  Christ's 
Death  ",  and  "  The  Assension  "  were 
given  in  the  Salem  edition  of  1784, 
and  some  of  these  prints  were  used 


SJn 

yitW,in)  dearCJr/ef.vljat  is  before  thine  Ejt.. 
*4nd.kncw  for  certain  thov  art  tjro  to  <Ly( 
How  foan  tioM-  know^fe  notjt   may  come  before; 
Tfairftxiit  en  joy  one  minutes  Pleefure  more  -, 
Whenthou  wtttleavefhlsWorU  and  all  behind 
To  b&  With  Worms,in  fome  Church,  yard  con  find. 
4ndaiframallttyfrien<lsgrim  death  fall  take  tht* 
•SoGod,  willfindthee  when-tl 


From  the  "New  English  Tutor."      London;    1702-1714?]) 


Introduction  109 

in  other  issues  printed  in  the  decade 
1790—1800.  This  Salem  edition  con- 
tained  pictures  of "  a  little  boy  ^nd 
girl  bestowing  charity"  and  "a  good 
Hoy  and  Girl  at  theii  Books."  More 
important  still  was  its  inclusion  of 
certain  prints  of  animals  taken  from 
the  "  Royal  Primer,"  which,  with  the 
already  described  poems,  was  the  hrst 
true  bid  for  popularity  the  Primer  had 
ever  made.  Some  other  worldly  prints 
were  included,  among  them  two  de- 
signed to  teach  the  alphabet,  no  longer 
by  Bible  extracts,  but  by  pictures  of 
playthings,  animals,  etc. 

This  secularizing  was  an  attack  by 
its  friends  from  which  the  book  never 
quite  recovered,  for  the  printers  haying 
once  found  how  much  more  saleable 
such  primers  were,  and  parents  haying 


(From  the  "New  England  Primer."      Newburyport  [N.   I).]) 


0{   I 


(From  the  "New  England  Primer."      Newburyport  [N.  D.]) 


I  10 


Introduction 


found  how  much  more  readily  their 
children  learned,  both  united  in  en- 
couraging more  popular  school-hooks, 
and  very  quickly  illustrated  primers, 
which  aimed  to  please  rather  than  to 
torture,  were  multiplied.  The  New 
England  Primer  made  a  brave  fight, 
but  it  was  a  hopeless  battle.  Slowly 
printer  after  printer  abandoned  the 
printing  of  editions  of  the  little  work, 
i:i  favor  of  some  more  popular  compi- 
lation. It  was  driven  from  the  cities, 
then  from  the  villages,  and  finally  from 
the  farm  houses.  Editions  were  con- 
stantly printed,  but  steadily  it  lost  its 
place  as  a  book  of  instruction.  In  the 
schools  it  was  replaced  by  other  and 
better  books,  and  though  an  edition 
was  printed  as  recently  as  1886,  it  is 
to  be  questioned  if  an  American  child 


Introduction 


1 1 1 


of  to-day  is  being  taught  by  the  famous 
little  manual. 


IT    is    impossible    to    measure   the 
work    the    Primer    accomplished.    The  Work  of 
If  the    Puritan   exodus   is   viewed   lhe  Prlmer 
with   the    eyes  of  the   Hon.  William 
Stoughton,    who   asserted    that    "  God 
sifted  a  whole    nation    that    he    might 

D 

send  choice  grain  into  this  wilder- 
ness," there  was  little  left  for  the 
Primer  to  do.  This  however  is  a 
public  speaker's  view,  and  therefore 
probably  approximated  more  to  what 
would  please  his  audience,  than  to  the 
truth.  Certainly  the  court  records  of 
early  New  England  reveal  a  condition 
akin  to  all  frontier  settlements  in  law- 
lessness and  immorality,  and  in  pro- 


I  12 


Introduction 


portion  to  population  show  a  greater 
percentage  of  most  crimes  than  would 
be  found  even  in  our  large  cities  of 
to-day,  bearing  out  the  statement  of 
the  Rev.  John  White,  —  a  leading 
Puritan  —  that  a  large  part  of  the  first 
settlers  of  New  England  were1' a  mul- 
titude of  rude  ungovernable  persons, 
the  very  scum  of  the  land."  It  is 
related  that  a  newly  installed  New 
England  pastor  said  to  a  spinster 
parishioner  "  I  hope,  madam,  you  be- 
lieve in  total  depravity,"  and  received 
the  prompt  response  :  "  Oh,  parson, 
what  a  fine  doctrine  it  would  be,  if 
folks  only  lived  up  to  it."  There  was 
far  more  living  up  to  total  depravity 
in  early  New  England  than  most 
people  suspect,  and  when  one  reads 
the  charges  brought  against  them  by 


Introduction 


\  \ 


their  own  ministers,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  realize  why  the  New  England 
clergy  dwelt  so  much  on  the  terrors 
of  hell  ;  one  even  becomes  sympathetic 
with  the  Presbyterian  clergyman  who 
said  with  disgust  that  "  the  Universal- 
ists  believe  that  all  men  will  be  saved, 
but  we  hope  for  better  things."  What- 
ever the  first  years  of  New  England 
may  have  been,  however,  the  church 
and  the  school  were  at  work,  and  what 
they  did  needs  no  other  monument 
than  the  history  of  the  last  two  hun- 
dred years.  The  New  England  Primer 
is  dead,  but  it  died  on  a  victorious 
battle  field,  and  its  epitaph  may  well 
be  that  written  of  Noah  Webster's 
Spelling  Book  : 

"  It  taught  millions  to  read,  and  not 
one  to  sin." 


ra  Enlarged. 

|]For  the  more  ealy  attami 
-  thettueReadingot^NGHS.H 

To  which  is  added, 
g  The  AfTembly  of  Divines 

%C  AT  EC  HIS 


s  0  STO  N.-  Printed 
r.Gr«fl,Sold  by  the  Boofefelleta 


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•  a  be  ;* 

nor  depart  jrcm  it. 
C  h  a  p.  2  ;  .  1  7-,  1  8.  Let  not  thy  heart 
?nvyfinncrs,but  be  tbou  in  the  fear 
oftbt  Lord  all  the  day  long. 

For  furely  tbtre  is  an  end,  and 

fly  txptftalion  Jball  not  be  cut  ej). 

£pb.  i,  i-  Ofildrtn  obey  yourPa- 

rtnti  in  tbt  Lord,  for  ibis  is  rigbft 

Of  Serving  GOD. 

1.  God  will  bave  no  time  tofavf 
us,  if  we  find  no  day  toftrve  tiitn. 

2.  Shall  wf  bavt  fix   days    in 
t  and  God  not  ont  ? 

tbou 


ling  mind, 
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Confonants, 
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Double  Letrers, 

fTHftfifhfin  ffi  ffiffl 

Italitk  Letters. 

>5d  B^  C<r  D^  £<?  P/G^  I 
//  Kk  LI  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp 
Kr  5/T/  U»  W'aj  Jf*  7^ 
Italhk  Double  Letters 


The  Great  Englifli  Lctrcrj, 

J5  C 

It  ft  fllf) 


The  Small  Englilh  LciTcrs. 

abcorfgljiftimno 


Great  Letters. 

ABCDEFGHIKLMNO 
P  Q.R  STUVWXYZ. 


Eafie  Syllable?  for  Children. 

ab         eb        ib        ob        ub 


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Words  of  one  Syllabic. 


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be        child 

face 

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bcft      clay 

fine 

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bed      cry 

fair 

all 

hold    cup 

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bad      ear 

fight 

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kid      grace 

give 

great 

kind     heart 

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kill      had 

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glafs 

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health 

."heal 

long    nine 

peace 

how 

man    no 

peep 

hide 

maid   note 

pence 

knit 

mole   of 

pitch 

known 

moon  old 

play 

knew 

more  once 

pure 

Words  of  two  SylMrs. 

Ab-fent  Abfent 

Bold-ly  Boldly 

Con-ftant  Conftant 

De-pend  Depend 

En-clofe  Enclofe 

Fa-ther  Father 

Glo-ry  Glory 

Hus-band  Husband 

Words  of  three  fyllables, 

A-bu-ling  Abirfing 

Be- witch- ing  Bewitching 

Con-found'ed  Confounded 

Drun-ken-nefs  Drunkertnefs 

E-raf-mus  Erafmus 

Fa-cul-ty  Faculty 

God-H-Jiefs  Godlinefs 

Ho-li-nefs  Holinefs 

Im-pu-denr  Impudent 

Ka-len-der  Kalender. 


Words  of  four  Syllable?. 

Ac-corn- pa-ny  Accompany 

Bc-ne  vo-ience  Benevolence 

Ce-re-mo-ny  Ceremony 

Difcon-tent-ed  Difcontented 

E-verlalHng  Eveilafting 

Fi-de-li-ty  ™el.^. 

Glo-ri-fy-ing  Glofifymg 

Hu-mi-li  ty  Humility 

In-fir-mi-ty  Infirmity. 

Words  of  Jive  Syllables. 
Ad  mi-ia-ti-on        Admiration 

Be-ne-fi-ci  al  Beneficial 

Con-Mati-on  Conloiation 

De-da  ration  Declaration 
Ex  hor-u-ti-on       Exhortation 
For-nLca-tion        Fornication 
Ge-ne-ra  ti-on         Generation 

Ha-Wta-ti-on  Habitation 
Itt-vl-ta  ti  on 


A 
B 

C 

D 


Jn  ddatn's  Fall 
We  Sinned  all. 


Thy  Life  to  Mend 
This  BccTt  Attend. 


The  Cat  doth  play 
And  after  flay. 

A   Dog  will  bite 
A  Thief  2t  na&ht. 


An  Eagle*  flight 
Is    out  of  fight. 


The  Idle  Fool 
Is  whipt  at  School 


H 
J 

K 


M 


As  runs  the  Clafs 
Mans  life  doth  pafs, 


My  -Eoofcancl  Heart 
Shall  never  p*tt. 


ffrft  feels  the  Rod 
Yet  blffles  GOD. 

Our  KJNG    the 

good 
No  man  of  blood. 

The  Lion  bold 

The  Lamb  doth  hold. 

The   Moon  gives  light 
In  time  of 


fing 
In  Time  of  Spring. 

The  Royal  Oak 
it  was  the  Tree 

That  favM  His 
Royal  Majeftie. 

Peter  denies 

His  Lord  and  cries 

Queen  Ejtber  comes 

in  Royal  gtwe 

To  Save  the  JEWS 

•from  difrnal  Fate 


dothino\ir> 
For  her  firft  born. 

Samuel  anoints 
Whom  God  appoint; 


Time  cuts  down  all 
Both  great  and  fir.aH. 


Made  David  leek  his 
Life. 

Wiales  in  the  Sea 
God's  Voice  obey. 

Xerxts  the  great  did 

die, 
And  lo  mult  you  &  I. 

Youib  forward  Wps 
Death  foonelt  -nips. 

Zacbcus   he 

Did  climb  the  Tree 

Hrt  Lord  to  fee, 


Now  tbe  Child  being  cntrtd  in  Us 
Letters  and  Spelling,  Jet  him 
learn  tbffe  and  fuck  like  Sen* 
tences  by  Heart,  wberfby  be  will 
le  both  infirutted  In  bis  Duty, 
cind  encouroged  in  bis  I*tarning. 

TbcDutiJul  Cbild's  Promlfes, 

I  Will  fear  GOD,and. honour  the KINGL 
I  will  honour  my  Father  &  Mother* 
I  -wil!  obey  my  Soperiours. 
I  will  Submit  to  my  Elder?, 
I  will  Love  my  Friends, 
1  will   hate  no  Man. 
I  will  forgive  my  Enemies,  and  pray  to 

God  for  (hem. 

*  will  a$  much  as  in  me  lies  Xetnail  God's 
Holy  Commandments, 


I  will  learn  my  Gatechifm. 
I  will  keep  the  Lord's  Day  Holy, 
I  will  Reverence  God's  Santfuary, 
For  our  GOD  is  a  cvnjiiming  Fire, 

An  Alphabet  of  Le/ons  for  Youtb. 
Wife  Son  mafas  a  glad  Fathcr,but 
a  foolifh  Son  is   the  heaviness  of 
his  Mother. 

BEtter  is  a  little  with  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  than  great  treafure  and  trou- 
ble therewith, 

COme  unro  CHRIST  all  ye  that  la. 
bour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  He 
\vi!l  give   you  reit. 
,O  not  the  abominable  thing  which 

I  bate,  faith  the  Lord. 
'Xcept  a  Man  be  born  again,   he  can- 
not fee  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
'Oolilhnefs  is  bound  up  in  the  heart  o£ 
a  Child,  but  the  rod  of  Comftion 
£ha]l  drive  it   far  from  him. 
Kievc  not  the  Holy  Spirit: 


HOIinefs  becomes  God's  Houfe  for 
ever. 

is  good  for  me  to  draw  near  unto 
God. 
Eepthy  Heart  with  allDiligcnce,  tot 

out  of  it  are  the  iffues  of  lafr. 
iars  fiiall  have  their  part  in  the  lalcc 
\vhich  burns  with  fire  and  brimitone. 

MAny  arc   the    Affliftions  of    the 
Righteous,  buc  the  Lord  delivers 
tncm  mxt  of  tfiem  al). 

NOW  is  the  acc*ptec*  time,  now  is 
the  cliy  of  feivacion. 
OUt  of  tRc  abundance  of  die  beare 
the  mourh  fpeakecn. 
PRay  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  fecret, 
end  thy  father  which  Ites  in  fccror, 
fhall  reward  thee  openly. 

a  Jit  you  like  Men,  be  ftrong,  ftand 
Uit  in  the  Faith. 

R-Emember  thy  Creator  in  the  days 
of  thy   Youth. 
Alvation  bclongcth  to  the  Lord. 


s 


B  Trurt 


TPufl  in  God  at  a.11  times  ye  peopK 
pour  out  ycur  beam  before  rum. 
Ufon  the  wicked  God  fhall  rain  an 
horribie  Tempeft. 

~O  to  the  wicked,  it  flull  be  ill 
with  him,  for  the  feward  of  his 
fhall  be  given  him. 

lort  one  awotber  daJiy  wH'e  is 
_^  is  ailed  to  day,  Iclt  any  cf  you 
bclmrdcncd  through  tlic  deceitlulnefs  of 
Sin. 

YOung  Men  ye    have  overcome   iLe 
wicked  one. 

ZEil  hrth  confumcd  me,  bccaufe  thy 
enemies  have  forgotten  the  word< 
of  God.  Choice  Sentences 

1.  Priying  will    make  thee  leave  fin 
ninp,.  or  finning  will  make  thcc   leave 
praying. 

2.  Our  Weaknefs  and  Inabilities  break 
noe  the  bond  of  our  Duties. 

3.  Whac  we  arc  afraid  to  fpcak  before 
Men,  svc  fliould  be  air^id  to  thinJc  btfoic 


The  LORD's  Trayer. 

OURfa-ther  which  art  in  H«».ven> 
Hii-low-ed  be  thy  Name.  Thy 
Kingdom  come.  Thy  Will  be  done  on 
Emfa  as  rt  is  in  Hea-yen.  Give  ui  this 
da,y  OUT  aai-iy  Bread,  And  for-give  us 
our  Debts  as  we  for-give  our  Deb-tor?, 
And  lead  us  not  in.to  Temp-ta-ti-orij  but 
d*-lj-ver  us  from  «-vil,  for  thine  is  the 
Kingdom,  the  Power  and  the  Qlo.ry,  for 
ever,  A-MEN. 

Tbe  CREED. 

ISe-lieve  in  GOD  the  Father  Almigh- 
ty, Ma-ker  of  Hea.ven  and  Earth.  And 
in  Je-fus  Ghritl  his  on-Iy  Son  our  Lord, 
which  was  con-ceiv-ed  by  the  Ho-Iy 
Ghoft,  Born  of  the  Vir.g'm  Mary,  Suf- 
fer-ed  "un-derPo«-/r*»J  Pi-late,  waicra.ci- 
fi.ed,  Dead  atid  Bu-ri-ed>  He  de-fcen-ded 
in.-tp  Hell.  The  third  Diy  he-  i.rofe 
a.gain  from  the  Dead  ;  and  af-feen-ded 
in-to  Hea-fcn,  and  fit-teth  on  the  Right, 
Hand  of  God  the  Fa-thetf  Al.mi^h.ty 
From  thence  he  .ftwli  come  to  judg,  tj 


the  quick  and  the  dead.  I  bMievc  in  the 
Ho-fy  Ghott,  the  Ho-Jy  Ca-chiHick 
Courch,  ehe  Com.iuu-ni-on  of  Saints  the 
Fof-^ivp.ncfs  of  Sins,  the  K«-fur.rec.ti.on 
of  the  Bo-dy,  and  the  Life  E-vcr-kif-jne 
A-MEN. 


T/?e  T<?«  Comma  ndmenist    Exod.  XX. 

GOD  />/!*<?  /j//  Hi  efeWords.  faying, 
am  fbe  Lord  thy  God,  which  have 
brought  thee  out  of  ibe  Land  o 
out  of  the  Houfe  of  Bondage. 

I.  Thou  fiiajt  have  no    other   gods 
before  me. 

II.  Thou  ftuh  not  make  unto  tliee  any 
graven  Image,    or  any  likenefs  of    any 
thing  that  is  in  Heaven  above,  cr  that  is 
in  the  Earth  beneath,    or  that  is  in   the 
Water  under  the  Earth  j   thou  (halt  not 
bow  down  thy  fcif  to  them,  nor  ferve 
them,  for  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  je<*. 

us  Gqd,  vi/iting  the  iniquity  of  the  Fa- 
icrsupon  the  Children,  unto  the  third 


and  fourth  « 
me,  aijd  fhe 
of  them  th 


III. 
tlve  LO 
will  no 


IV 

it  ho* 
allth« 

Sabbat 
{halt  IK 
nor  thy  JL 
nor  thy  ? 
the  Strs 
infix 
Earc 


bit 


(n/t  Adultery. 
He 


Neigfw 

'ct  thy 
rvant, 

ior  hi$ 
lelgh- 


Parents. 

ing,  He- 

-,  and 

:  him 


and  fourth  Generation  of  them  that  hate 
me  and  fhewing  Mercy  unto  thoufands 
of  them  that  love  Me  and  keep  my  Com- 
mandments. 

III.  Thou  fhalt  not  take  the  Name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain,  for  the  Lord 
will  not  hold  him  guiltlefs  that  taketh  his 
Name  in  vain. 

IV.  Remember  the  Sabbath  Day  and  keep 
it  holy,  fix  Days  fhalt  thou  labor  and  do 
all  thy  Work,  but  the  feventh  day  is  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  in  it  thou 
fhalt  not  do  any  work,  thou  nor  thy  Son, 
nor  thy  Daughter,  nor  thy  Man  Servant, 
nor  thy  Maid  Servant,  nor  thy  Cattle,  nor 
the  Stranger  that  is  within  thy  Gates,  for 
in  fix  Days  the  Lord  made  Heaven  and 
Earth,  the  Sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
refted  the  feventh  Day,  wherefore  the  Lord 
blefsed  the  Sabbath  Day  and  hallowed  it. 

V.  Honor  thy  Father  and  thy  Mother, 
that  thy  Days  may  be  long  upon  the  Land 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee. 

VI.  Thou  {halt  not  Kilh 


[Restoration  of  lacking 


VII.  Thou  {halt  not  commit  Adultery. 

VIII.  Thou  (halt  not  Steal. 

IX.  Thou  (halt  not  hear  falfe  Witnefs 
againft  thy  Neighbor. 

X.  Thou   fhalt   not   covet  thy  Neigh- 
bor's  Houfe,  thou    fhalt   not  covet  thy 
Neighbor's  Wife,  nor  his  Man  Servant, 
nor   his   Maid    Servant,  nor  his  Ox,  nor 
his  Afs,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  Neigh- 
bor's. 

These  IVords  which  I  command  thee  this 
Day  shall  be  in  thy  Heart. 

DUTY  OF   CHILDREN   TOWARDS 
THEIR   PARENTS. 

God  hath  commanded  faying,  Ho- 
nour thy  Father  and  Mother,  and 
whofo  curfeth  Father  or  Mother,  let  him 
die  the  Death.  Mat.  15.  4. 

Children  obey  your  Parents  in  the 
Lord,  for  this  is  right. 

2.  Honour  thy  Father  and  Mother, 
(which  is  the  firft  Commandment  with 
Promife). 


[Restoration  of  lacking  texf\ 
20 


3.  That  it  may  be  well  with  thee, 
and  that  them  mayft  live  long  on  the 
Earth. 

Children,  obey  your  Parents  in  all 
Things,  for  that  is  well  pleafing  unto  the 
Lord.  Col.  3,  20. 

The  Eye  that  mocketh  his  Father, 
and  defpifeth  the  Instruction  of  his 
Mother,  let  the  Ravens  of  the  Valley 
pluck  it  out,  and  the  young  Eagles  eat 
it. 

Father,  I  have  finned  againft  Heaven, 
and  before  thee.  Luke  15,  10. 

19.  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called 
thy  Son. 

No  man  ever  hated  his  own  flefh,  but 
nourifheth  and  cherifheth  it.  Ephes. 

5,  19- 

I  pray  thee  let  my  Father  and  Mother 

come  and  abide  with  you,  till  I  know 
what  God  will  do  for  me.  I  Sam. 
22,  3. 

My  Son,  help  thy  Father  in  his  Age, 
and  grieve  him  not  as  long  as  he  liveth. 


[Restoration  of  lacking  texf\ 

21 


12.  And  if  his  Underftanding  fail, 
have  patience  with  him,  and  defpife  him 
not  when  thou  art  in  thy  full  Strength. 

Whofo  curfeth  his  P^ather  or  his  Moth- 
er, his  Lamp  (hall  he  put  out  in  obfcure 
Darknefs.  Prov.  20,  20. 

VERSES. 

I  in  the  Burying  Place  may  fee 
Graves  fhorter  there  than  I  ; 

From  Death's  Arreft  no  Age  is  free, 
Young  Children  too  may  die  ; 

My  God,  may  fuch  an  awful  Sight, 
Awakening  be  to  me  ! 

O 

Oh  !   that  by  early  Grace  I  might 
For  Death  prepared  be. 

AGAIN. 

Firft   in   the    Morning    when   thou   doft 

awake, 

To  God  for  his  Grace  thy  Petition  make, 
Some  Heavenly  Petition  life  daily  to  lay, 
That  the  God  of  Heaven  may  blefs 

thee  alwav. 


[Restoration  of  lacking  tex1~\ 

22 


Good  Children  tnuft, 
Fear  God  <*&  £>*/,    Love  Chrift  alway, 
Parents  obey,  In  Secret  Pray, 

tfo  falfe  thing  fay  t    Mind  little  Play, 
By  no  Sin*Jlr0fr       Make  no  delay  , 
In  ddjng  Good' 

Awake,  arijet  behold  tbou  baft 

Tbj  tiff  a  Leaf,  tby  Breath  a 

At  Night  lye  down  preaid  to  have 


Learn  thefe  four  Lines  by  Hearc- 

Havc  Communion  vohb  few, 
Be  Intimate  laltb  ONE. 
Deal  jujUy  witb  all. 
Speak  Evil  of  none. 

TheNamesandOrder  of  theBooks 

f  rheOld  andNew-Teftamenr. 

EneJis  Lcvitie^ 

Exvdus         Numbers 


Deuteronomy 

Jofli.ua 

Judges 

Ruth 

J.  Samuel 

II.  Samuel 

I.  Kings 

II.  Kings 

I.  Chronicles 

II.  Chronicles 
Ezra 

Nehemiah 
Efther 

Job 
Pfalms 
Proverbs 
Ecclefiaftes 
Solomons  Song 


Ifaiah 

Jeremiah 

Lamentations 

Ezekiel 

Daniel 

Hofea 

Joel 

Amos 

Obadiah 

Jonah 

Micah 

Nahum 

Habakkuk 

Zephaniali 

Haggai 

Zecliariah 

Malachi- 


Matthew 


MAtthew 
Mark 
Luke 
John 

The  Afts 
Romans 
L  Corinthians 
II  Corinthians 
Galatians 
Ephefians 
Philippians 
Coloffians 
I.  ThefTalonians 
H-  Theffalonians 


T  Timothy. 
II.  Timothy 
Titus 

Philemon 

Hebrews 

James 

I  Peter 
II.  Pefer 
I-  John 

II  John 
III-  John 
Jude 
Revelations 


The  numeral  Letters  and  Figures, 
which  ferve  for  tie  ready  finding  of  tiny 
Chapter,  Pfatm,  and  VerJ't  in  the  Bible. 


ii 

ii; 


one 
two 
three 


iv 

4 

four 

V 

five 

Vi 

6 

ti* 

Vii 

1 

fcVCD 

Viii 

8 

eighs 

ix 

9 

nine 

X 

10 

ten 

xi 

ii 

eleven 

Xii 

it 

twelve 

Xiii 

*3 

thirteen 

siv 

>4 

fourteen 

XV 

as 

fifteen 

XVi 

J<J 

fixteen 

XVii 

J7 

fcvenreca 

XYiii 

38 

eighteen 

Xfc 

19 

nineteen 

XX 

ao 

twenty 

XKi 

ai 

tweniy  one 

xxii 

27 

tsveoty  two 

x&»i 

*3 

twenty  three 

XXJ7 

*4 

twenty  foul 

yxv 

^S 

twenty  five 

XXVI 

16 

twenty  fix 

xxvli 

X7 

twenty  fevcn 

xxviii 

28 

twenty  cighi 

nix  19  twenty  nine 

xxx  30  thirty 

xxxi  at  thirty  one 

*vvu  gi  thirty  two 

xxvii  33  tfrrry  three 

XXKJV  34  thirty  faut 

xxxv  35  thirty  five 

xxxvi  36  thirty  fix 

xxxvii  37  thirty  ftvew 

xxxviii  38  thirty  eighc 

xsx-jt  39  tkifty  niw 

xi  ^o  forty 

xli  41  forty  one 

xlii  41  forty  two 

xl  U  43  forty  three 

xli*  <H  forty  f°uf 

xiv  «{-5  forty  fiva 

xWi  <j"5  forty  fix 

jtlfii  47  forty  ftven 

x:v»i  48  forty  cighc 

xilx  49  forty,  nine 

I  50  fifcy 

li  5!  fiity  one 

iii  5l  fifty  two 

Ji»  53  filry  three 


'»v  54                pfty  four 

lv.  55                 fiit /five 

Jvi  56                 fifty  fix 

Ivi]  57                 fifty  fevfn 

lv'h  58                 fifty  eight 

59  fifty  nine 

60  fixty 

I**  6 1               fixcy  one 

l'*\\f  61                fixty  two 

Jxiii  63                 fixry  t^ree 

Ixiv  (5^  f  xty  four 

Ixv  65                fixcyfive 

Ivvi  (5<$  f]Xty  fix 

Jxvii  67  fixt-y  leveri 

ixviji  68  fixiy  eig^t 

Ixi*  ^9  lixty  nine 

Jxx  70  iVvcnty 

Ixxi  71  fevsnty  one 

Ixxi;  7z  fcventy  two 

l^xjii  73  fevcnty  three 

jxx'«v  74  ftveniyfour 

Jx'xv  7?  ieventy  five 

Jxxvi  76  ieventy  fix 

Ixxvii  77  feventy  fevtn 

7^  fcvcmy  eight 


Ixxix 
Ixxx 

Ixxxj 

txx/ii 
iXXXiii 

faxxiv 

Jxxxv 

Ixxxvi 


Ixxxviii 
Ixxxix 
xc 
xci 

XCii 


XCi\7 

xcv 

xcvi 

xcvii 

xcviii 

xc/x 

c 


79 

80 

81 

83 

85 

86 

87 
83 
89 
90 

9* 
93 

95 

96 

97 
93 

99 

100 


ftventy  nine 
eighty 
eighty  one 
eighty  two 

eighty  three 
eighty  four 
eighty  five 
eighty  fix 
eighty  feven 
eighty  eight 
eighty  nine 
ciineiy 
ninety  one 
ninety  CWD 
ninety  three 
ninety  four 
ninety  five 
ninety  fix 
ninety  fcven 
ninety  ejght 
ninety  rune 
an  hundred 


Mr. 


M 


R,  Jobn  Roger  s7  M  in  liter  of 
the  Gofpel  in  London,vi*s 

*  ^-*.          Tf  #  *      T~^          *    — 


the 

qndwas  burnt 
tfff^the  fourteenth,  iJ54-HisWife, 
with  nine  fmaliChildren,and  one 

at 


at  herBreaft/ollottf  fjglrim  to  the 

Stake,with  which  Ibrrowfui  fight 
he  was  not  in  the  haft  daunted, 
tmu  with  wonderful  Parience  died 
couragioufly  for  the  Golpel  of 
JefusChrifi 


-SW  few  Days  , 

*c  writ   the  following  Exhortation 
to  bit  Children. 

give  ear  my  Children  fo  my  word*, 
^    whom  God  hach  deafly  bought, 
Lzy  up  his  Laws  within  your  heart. 

and  print  them  in  your  thought 
1  leave  you  here  a  little  JBook, 

for  you  to  look  upon  • 


G   ' 


Not  many  chys  before  my  Death 

I  did  compere  thfs  Work, 
And  for  Example  to  your  Youth, 

to  whom  I  wi/h  all  good  5 
I  fend  you  here  pod's  pcrfefl  Truth,' 

and  feel  it  with  my  Bfood 
To  you  my  Heirs  of  earthly  Things; 

which  I  do  leave  behind, 
That  you  may  read  and  underftand, 

and  keep  it  in  your  mind. 
That  as  you  have  been  Heirs  of  thet 

which  once  fhaJ!  wear  away, 
You  alfo  may  poffcfs  that  part, 

which  never  lhall  decay. 
Keep  always  GOD  before  your  cyery 

with  all  your  whoje   intent  ; 
Commit  no  Sin  in  any   wife, 

Veep  his  Comma ndement. 
Abhor  that  arrant  Whore  of  Rome, 

and  all  her  Biafpbemiej  •, 
And  drink  not  of  her  cursed  Cop, 

obey  not  her  decrw. 
Give  honour  to  your  Mother  dear, 

remember  well  her  pafn  5 


And  recompenfe  her  in  her  Age 

with  the  like  love   again. 
Be  always  ready  for  her  help, 

and  let  her  not  decay ^ 
Remember  well  your  Father  all  . 

that  fliould  have  been  your  flay. 
Give  of  your  Portion  to  ihePoor, 

as  Riches  do  arife  ^ 
And  from -the  needy  natad  Soul 

turn  not  away  your  eyes. 
For  he  that  doth  not  hear  the  cry 

of  thofe  that  ftand  in  need. 
Shall  cry  himTelf  and  not  be  heard, 

when  he  does  hope  to  fpeed, 
If  GOD  hath  given  you  increafe 

and  bjefled  well  your  Jtore, 
Remember  you  are  put  in  truft, 

and  fhould  relieve  the  poor. 
Beware  of  fed  and  filthy  Lufo, 

let  fuo'h  things   have  no  place, 
Keep  clean  your  VeiTeh  in  the  Lord, 

thai  he  may  you  embrace. 
Ye  arc  the  Temples  of  the  Lord, 

for  you  are  dearly  bougU  „ 


And  they  that  do  defile  the  fame 

/hall  furely  come  to  nought. 
Be  never  Proud  by  any  means, 
build  not  thy  houfc  too  bigfj, 
But  always  have  before  yeur  eye?. 

that  you  are  born  to  die. 
Defraud  not  him  that  hired  is, 

your  labour  to  fuftain; 
And  pay  him  ftill  without  delay, 

hi«  wages  for  bis  pain. 
And  as  vou  wouU  mother  Man 

ogainit  you  ftiould  proceed, 
Do  you  the  fame  to  them  igaio. 

if  they  do  ftand  in  need. 
Impart  your  Portion  to  the  Poor3 

in  Money  and  in  Meat, 
And  fend  the  feeble  fainting  Soul 

of  that  which  you  do  eat. 
AskCounfd  always  of  the  wife, 

give  ear  unto  the  end, 
And  nt'r  refute  the  fweet  rebuke 

of  him  that  is  tUy  Friend. 
Be  always  thankful  to  the  Lord, 

with  Prayer  and  with  Praifc, 


Begging  of  him  to  blefs  your  work, 

audio  direct  your  ways. 
Seek  fitft  I  fay  the  living  GOD, 

and  always  Vim  adore  j 
And  then  be  -Turc  that  he  will  bJcfs 

your  basket  and  your  flore. 
And  I  befecch  Almighty  GOD, 

rcplcnifh  you  with  Grace^ 
That  I  may  meet  you  in  the  Hcav'ns, 

and  fee  you  face  to  face. 
And  tlio'  the  Fire  my  Body  burns,, 

contrary  to  my  kind  ; 
That  I  cannot  enjoy  your  love, 

according  to  my  mind. 
Yet  I  do  bope  that  when  the  Hcav'ns, 

fhalJ  vanifh  like  a  fcrowl, 
I  fhall  fee  you  in  perfeft  ftupe, 

in  Body  and  in  f>ouj, 
And  that  I  ma,y  enjoy  your  Iovc3 

and  you  enjoy  the  Land 
I  do  befcech  the  Jiving  LORD 

to  hold  you  in  his  hand. 
Thouzh  here  my  Body  be  adjudg'd 

in  flaming  Fire  to  fry, 


My  Soul  I  trulf  will  ftraight  afcend, 

to  live  with  GOD  on  high. 
What  though  thisCatf^ft  (mart  a  while 

what  though  this  Life  de-ray, 
My  Sou!  I  trull  will  be  with  GOD, 

and  live  with  him  for  aye. 
I  know  I  am  a  Sinner  born, 

from  the  Original; 

nd  that  I  do  dckrve  to  dip, 

by  my  Fore-Fathers  (afl. 
by  our  Saviour's  precious  BloocS, 

wirich  on  trie  Crofs  was  ipilr, 
Who  freely  ofifer'd  up  his  Lifr,  ' 

to  fave  our  Souls  from  Guilr, 
J  hope  Redemption  I  fhall  havr, 

and  ail  that  in  him  trull  5 
When  J  fhall  fee  him  face  to  face, 

and  live  among  the  Julh 
Wfiy  then  fhould  I  fear  Deaths  grim  Joofc, 

fince    ChrHl  for  me  did    die?  , 
For  King  and  Ofar,  Rich  and  Poor,' 

the  force  of  Death,  mutt  trie. 
When  I  am  chained  to  the  Stake, 

and  Faggots  girt  me  round, 


Then  pray  the  Lord  my  Soul  in  Hrav'n 

may  be  with  Glory  crown'd. 
Come  welcome  Death,  the  end  of  fears, 

I  am  prepar'd  to  die  j 
Tnofe  earthly  Flames  will  fend  my  Soul, 

up  to  the  Lord  on  high. 
Farewel  my  Children  to  the  World, 

where  you  mult  yet  reoiaim 
The  Lord  of  .Holt  be  your  defence 

til)  we  do  meet  again. 
Farcwcl  my  true  and  Joving  Wifr? 

my  Children  sod  my  Friends, 
I  hope  in  Heaven  to  fee  you  all, 

when  all  things  have  their  end* 
If  you  go  on  to  ferve  the  Lord, 

as  you  have  now  begun, 
You  fhdl  walk  fafely  all  your  dayf, 

until  your  life  be   done. 
GOD  grant  you  fo  to  end  your  days, 

as  hefhall  think  ir  beft, 
Thar  I  may  meet  you  in  the  Heav'flJ, 

where  I  do  hope  to  reft. 

The 


The    SHORTER 

CATECHISM 

Agreed  upon  by  the  Reverend 
Affembly  of  D  j  v  i  n  es 


Qu  eft    Y  71  7  Hat  ts  the  chief  End 
VV    of  Man  ? 

Anfw.  Man's  chief  End  is  to 
Glorify  God,  and  to  Em'oy  Him 
for  ever, 

d  What  Rule  batb  Godgivtr.  to 
dircft  us  bow  we  may  glorify  and 
tnjoy  Him  ? 

A.  The  Word  of  God  which  is 
contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the 


Old  and  New  Telhment,  is  th 
only  Rule  to  direft  us  how  we 
may  glorify  and  enjoy  him. 

Q.  What  do  ibe  Scriptures  prin- 
cipally teach  -? 

A.  The  Scriptures  principally 
teach,what  Man  is  to  believe  con- 
cerning God,  and  what  duty  God 
requireth  of  Man. 

Q.  Wbat  is  God  > 

A.  God  is  a  Spirit,  Infinite,  E- 

ternal,  and  Unchangeable,  in  His 

JBeing,  Wifdom,  Power, Holinefs, 

Juftice,  Gcodnefs  and  Truth. 

Qj.  Are  there  nor  (Gods  than  Ons  ? 

A,  There  is  but  ONE  only, 
the  living  and  true  God. 

Qj  How  mani  fcrfons  are  there 
;>  the  God-had  f 
'A.  There  are  Three  Perfons  in 


the  God-Head,  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghofr,8c  tliefe 
Three  are  One  GOD  the  fame  in 
Subtfance,equal  inPower&Mory. 

Q.  What  are  tbe Decrees  cj  God  ? 

A.  The  Decrees  of  God  are  his 
eternal  Purpofe,  accord  ing  to  the 
Ccunfel  of  hisownWill.v/hcreby 
for  his  own  Glory,  he.  ha:h  fore- 
ordained  whaif  .cvcrcomes  to  pafs 

Q.  Hew  dptb  Gcd  execute  bis 

A-  God  executcrh  his  Decrees 
5a  the  Works  of  Creation  &  Pro- 
vide nee. 

Q^.  Whet  it  tbtWorkcf  Creation? 

A.  The  Work  of  Creation  is 
God's  Making  aii  things  of  No- 
thing, by  the  Word  of  hisPower, 


5n  the  fpacc  of  fis:  days,  ft  ail  \^ 

j-y  gOOd. 

(V  7/i/»-  J/V/  C?/?f?  creaft  S»-"fl  ? 

A.  God  created  Man  Male  and 
Female,  after  his  own  Image,  in 
Knowledge,  Rigbreoofncfs,  and 
Holirefs,  *wi\h  Dominion  over 


ths 

Q]  i  7-1.?  ?'-?•?  C\^j  WrrksofProvidttice? 

A,  God's  Woiks  otProvider.ee 
arc  his  molt  holy, wife  £t  power- 
ful prefer ving  8i  gcvering  ail  his 
Creatures  and  all  their  Aftions. 

Q.  H^/;a/  fpcc'iG*  A  [I  cfPrcvidetta 
AidQcd  exercifc  toward ffil&n  intbs 
Eflaft  Khcjtcin  be  was  created  ? 

A,  WhcnGod  had  crearedMan, 
He  sntred  into  a  Covenant  of  Life 
with  liim,uponcor.diuGnofperi'e& 
Obedience;  forbiddiog  him  to £3: 


of  the  Tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  upon  pain  of  Death. 
Q.  Did  our  frftPwents  continue  in 
ihetflatc  wbcrein  \bey  were  created? 

A.  Our  firftParents being  lefc  to 
the  freedom  of  their  ownWilI,f€l! 
from  theeffate  wherein  they  were 
created,  by  finning  againft  God, 

Q.  What  ii  Sin  ! 

A.  Sin  is  any  want  of  Confor- 
mity unto,orTranfgfef/ion  of  the 
Law  of  God. 

Q.  What  was  the  Sin  whereby  cur 
frjl  Parents  fell  from  the  eflats 
wot  rein  tbey  were  c  re  at  el  ? 

A.  The  Sin  whereby  our  full 
Parents  fell  from  the  eftate  where- 
in they  were  created,  was  their 

eating  the  forbidden  fruit. 

Did 


Q.  Did  all  Mankind  fall  in  A* 

dam's  ftr  ft  tronfgrejjiort  ? 

A.  The  Covenant  being  made 
with  Adatn,  not  only  forhimfelf 
but  for  his  Pofterity,  all  Mankind 
defcend ing  from  him  by  ordinary 
Generation,  finned  in  him,&  fell 
with  him  in  hisfirfl  tranfgreffion. 
Q.  Info  wkaf  cftate  did  ibt  Fall 
bring  Mankind  ? 

A.  The  Fall  brought  Mankind 

into  an  eftate  of  Sin  and  Mifery, 

Q;  Wherein  conftfls  tbe  Jinfulricfs 

of  thai  eflatc  vibcrcin+o  Man  fell  # 

A.  The  finfulnefs  of  that  eltate 

whereintoMan  fell,  confifts  in  the 

Guilt  of  Adam's  firit  Sin,the  want 

oFOriginalRightecufnefs,and  the 

Corruption  of  his  whole  Nature, 

which  is  commonly calledOriginal 


Sin, together  withal  I  aftualTranf- 
greflions  which  proceed  from  it. 

Q.  What  is  tie  Mi f try  0J  fat 
eflatc  wherclnto  Man  fell  ? 

A,  AilManfcind  by  theirfall,loft 
Communion  with  God,  are  under 
his  Wrath  K  Curfe,  and  fo  made 
liable  to  all  Miferiesin  this  Life, 
to  Death  it  felf,  and  to  the  pains 
of  Hell  for  ever. 

Q.  Did  God  leave  alManklnd  to 
fgrijf)  in  ibt  ettatcoj  Sin  tfMiferjr  > 

A.  God  having  out  oF  his  meet 
good  pleafure  from  all  fiiemUr, 
Elefted  fome  to  evetlafting  Life, 
did  enieiintoaCovenant  of  Grace, 
to  deliver  themout  of  the  Hate  of 

Sin  8C  Miferjr,  and  to  being  them 
into  a  ftate  of  Salvation  b.y  a  Re- 
deemer, ^  Wbo 


QWbo  is 

A.  The  onlyRcdeemer  ofGod  a 
Eleft,is  the  Lord  JefusChtift,who 
being  the  eternal  Son  of  God,be- 
came  Man,and  fo  was,  and  conti- 
nues to  be  God  and  Man  in  two 
diftinft  Natures,  and  one  Perfon 
for  ever. 

Q;  How  didCbrifl  being  the  Son 
of  God  become  Man  ? 

A.  Chrift  the  Son  of  God  be- 
came Man, by  taking  to  himfelf  a, 
true  Body  and  a  reafonable  Soul, 
being  conceived  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghoft,  in  the  Womb  of 
theVirgiu  Maryt  and  born  of  her, 
and  yet  without  Sin. 

Q.  Wb«t  Offices  doth  Grift  exe- 
cute as  our  Rfdremr  ? 

A,  Chrift 


A.  Chrtft  3S  our  Redeemer  exe- 
cutes theOfficc  of  a  Prophet,of  a 
Prieft,  and  of  a  King,  both  in  his 
elhte  ofHurntliationSiExaltation, 

Q;  How  doib  Cbrifl  execute  the 
Office  of  a  Prophet  ? 

^.Chrilt  executeth  theOfficc  of 
a  Prophet,  in  revealing  to  us  fcy 
his  Word  and  Spirit,  the  Will  of 
God  for  our  Salvation. 

Q  How  doth  drift  execute  the 
Office  of  aPritft- 

A  Chrift  executeth  the  Office 
of  a  Prieft,in  his  once  offering  up 
himfelfaSacrifice  tofatisfy Divine 
Juftice,5Creconc!le  us  toGod,&  in 
makingcontinuallnterceffionforus 

Q^  now  dotb  Cbrifl  txccute  the 
Office  oj  a  King  ? 

vi.Chrift executeth  theOffice  of 


3  King,  in  fubduingustohimfelf 
in  ruling  and  defendingus,  and  in 
retraining  and  conquering  all  his 
and  our  Enemies. 

Q.  Wherein  did  Cbrifl's  Humili- 
ation confifl  ? 

A.  Chrift'sHumiliation  confided 
in  His  being  born,  and  that  in  a 
lowcondltion.,madeunderthelaw 
undergoing  the  miferies  ofibis  life 
the  wrath  of  God,and  the  curfed 
Death  of  the  Crofs,  in  being  bu- 
ried and  continuing  under  the 
power  of  Death  for  a  time. 
QWberfin  confiflsChriJh Exaltation 

A.  Chrid's  Exaltation  confilteth 

in  his  rifing  again  from  theDead 

on  the  third  day, in  afcendingup 

into  Heaven,6irittingattheRight 

D  Hand 


Hand  of  God  the  Father,  and  in 
coming  to  judge  the  World  at 
the  lait  Day. 

Q  How  arc  we  madePartakfrs  of 
the  Redemption  pur  chafed  by  Cbrifl* 

A,  We  are  madePanakers  of  the 
Redemption  purchafed  by  Chrift, 
by  the  effectual  Application  of 
it  to  us  by  his  Holy  Spirit. 
Q,  How  dotb  the  Spirit  apply  Jo  us 
the  Redemption  punbafed  by  Cbrifil 

A.  The  Spirit  applierh  to  us  the 
Redemption  purchafed  by  Chrift, 
by  working  Faith  in  us,  &.  there- 
by uniting  us  to  Chrilt  in  our 
effectual  Calling. 

Q.  What  ti  tffctittal  Calling  ? 

yi.ErTeaualCaliing  is  theWork 
of  God's  Spirit,  whereby  convinc- 
ing us  of  oar  Sin  &  Mifery,  en- 


lightning  ourMinds  in  ^Know- 
ledge of  Chrilr,  &  renewing  out 
Wills,I?e  doth  peifwade  tenable 
us  ro  embrace  Jefus  Chriit,  free- 
ly offered  to  us  in  theGofpsL 
QWbatBcncjitsdotfay  tbatareifjgc- 
tually  called  partake  oj  in  sb/sLijf* 
A.  They  that  areEfteftualty  cai- 
led,do  in  thisLife  partake  of  Tuf. 
tification,  Adoption,  Sandificati- 
on,  &  the  feverai  Benefits  which 
in  this  Life  do  either  accompany 
or  flow  from  them. 
&f/  is 


*•  Jawincaiion  is  an  att  of  God's 
freeGrace,wherein  he  paidoneth 
all  our  Sins,  a.nd  accepteth  us  as 
Jighteous,nhisfighr,onlyforthe 
f^teoufnefsofChrift  imputed  ro 
us,  and  received  by  Faith  alone, 


Q;  What  h  Adoption  > 

A.  Adoption  is  an  Att  of  God's 
FreeGrace,whereby  we  arerectiv- 
ed  into  the  Number,  and  have 
Right  to  all  the  Priviledges  of 
the  Sons  of  God 

Q.  What  is  Santffoation  f 

A.  Sanftification  is  theWork  of 
God's  freeGrace,whereby  wears 
renewed  in  the  whole  Man,after 
the  Image  of  God,  fit  are  enabled 
more  8C  more  to  die  unto  Sin,  & 
live  unto  Righteoufnefs. 

Q.  Wbatarf  ibc  Ben  efts  which  in 
ibislijcdoaccompanyorjl  wjromjuj- 
tification.Adoptiontf  t>antt  if  cation  < 

A.  The  Benefits  which  in  this 
Life  do  accompany  or  flow  from 
Juflification,Adoption  orSanctifi- 
canion,are  aiFurance  ofGod's  love, 


peace  of  Conference,  joyin  the 
Holy  Ghoft/mcreafc  or  Grace,  K 
«ef  leverance  therein  to  the  end. 

O.  What  bcnrjits  do  Believers  re- 
ceive from  Cbrijl  at  their  Death  ? 

A  The  Souls  of  Believers  are  at 

thcitDeath  made  perfect  inHoli- 

neis,  &  do  immediately  pals  into 
Glory,  a  their  Bodies  being  lull 
united  to  Chrift,  do  reft  in  their 
Graves  till  the  Refurre£rion. 

(V  What  bcrujns  do  Believers  rt- 
ceivcframCbriji  at  tbcRffurretfbn  ? 
/L  Anvhe  Refune^ionBelievers 
being  raifed  up  toGloiy,  fhall  be 
openly  acknowledged  a  acquit- 
ted in  the  Day  of  Judgment,  8C 
made  perfeftly  bleflTed  in  full  en- 
joying of  God,  to  all  Eternity. 
~  is  the  Duty  which  Gad 


requires  of  Man  ? 

-d.  The  Duty  which  God  re. 

quires  of  Man,  is   Obedience  to 

his  revealed  will. 

<Jj  What  did  God  at  //•£?  reveal  to 

MtTifor  the  Rule  oj  bis  Obedience  ? 

A-  TheRule  which  God  at  ftrft 
revealed  toMan  for  hisObedience 
was  the  Moral  Law. 

Ck  Where  is  tbt  Mitral  Law 
fummarily  comprehended  ? 

A.  TheMoralLaw  isfummari- 
ly  comprehended  in  the  Ten 
Commandments. 

Q;  What  is  the  Sum  cf  ibeTen 
Commandments  ? 

A.  The  Sum  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments is,  To  love  the  Lord 
ourGod  with  all  our  Heart,  with 
all  our  Souls,  and  with  all  ou: 


Strength,  and  with  all  our  Mind, 
and  our  Neighbour  as  ourfdves. 

Q;  What  a  the  Preface  10  ibe 
Ten  Commandments  ? 

A.  The  Preface  to  the  Ten 
Commandmentsisin  thefe  Words, 
/  am  the  Lord  iby  God,  winch  b.sve 
brought  ibee  out  vfiht  Land  of  Egypt, 
out  of  the  Ho  life  of  Bandage. 

(X  What  <Jotb  the  Preface  to  tbff 
Ten  Commandments  teach  IM  ? 

A.  The  Preface  to  theTenCom- 
mandments  teachefh  us,  that  be- 
caufe  God  is  the  Lord,  &c  cur  God 
and  Redeemer,  therefore  we  sre 
bound  to  keep  all  his  Command- 
ments. 

Q;  Wbicb  is  tbefrfl  Commandment* 
-d.TheftrltCummandmentiSjTW 
pull  btve  n\>  oihtrgods  brfore  Ale. 


Q  What  x  required  in  the  /># 
Commandment  f 

A.  The  (it It  Commandment  re- 
quircth  us  to  know  and  acknow- 
ledge G»d  to  be  the  only  trueGod 
and  our  God,  and  to  worfhip  and 
glorify  him  accordingly. 
^  Q;  What  is  forbidden  in  tbsfirft 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  firft  Commandment  for- 
biddeih  the  denying,  or  not  WOP 
(hipping  and  glorifying  the  true 
God,  as  God  and  our  God,  &:  the 
giving  that  Worfhip  andGlory  eo 
anyothetwhich  isduetohimalone 

Q^Wbat  are  ihe  fpccially  taught  by 
tkffc  ^rrf.r(Before  Me}//?  thcfrjl 
Commandment  <* 

A.  ThefeWotds^/7^  f»0  in 
the  firft  Commandmenr^teach  us, 


ThatGod  who  feeth  all  things,ta- 
keth  notice  of,  and  is  much  dif- 
pleafed  with  the  Sin  of  having 
any  other  god. 

QWbicb  )6  tbcftcondCommandmcnt  ? 
A.  The  fecond  Commandment 
is,Tfo>#y?W/  not  make  unto  tkec  any 
Qraurcnlma^e.or  any  likcnefs  of  any 
thing  that  h  inheaven  abov.e^or  ihat 
ii  in  tbcEanb  bcncaih^or  ibat  h  in 
ibcWater  under  ibe Earth:  Tboufhalt 
not  bow  down  tbyfe/ffo  tbtm.,  nor 
fcrve  tbtmjor  I  tbcLord  tbyGod  am 
afcefausGod,  v'lfiiingjbc  Iniquities 
oftbcFaibcrs  upon  tbcCbildren.untd 
ibe  tbird  and  fourtbtjCTicration  oj 
them  tbat  bare  meff  ffiewrtg  we  fey 
unto  tboujands  of  them  tbat  love  nft 
and  keep  my  Commandments. 
Q,  What  is  rtuired  in 


Commandment  ? 

A.  The  fecond  Commandment 
requirethrherecciving,obrerving 
&:  keeping  pure  &  entire  all  fuch 
religious  Worfhip  8c  Ordinances, 
asGod  hath  appointed  in  hisWord 
Q.  What  is  forbidden  in  the  fecond 
Commandment  ? 

A  The  fecond  Commandment 
forbiddeth  the  worfhipping  of 
God  by  Images,or  any  other  way, 
nor  appointed  in  his  Word. 

Q;  What  are  the  Rctfvns  annexed 
to  the  fecond  Commandment  ? 

A.  The  Reafons  annexed  to  the 
fecond  Commandment,  are  God's 
Sovereignty  over us,hisPropriety 
in  us,  and  the  Zeal  he  hath  to 
his  own  Worfhip- 
Q.  Wbicb  ts'ibe  tbirdCommandtneml 


A.  The  third  Commandment  is, 
Tboufhalt  not  take  the  Name  of  tbe 
Lord  thy  God  in  vain  \  for  the  Lord 
voill  not  bold  him  guiltlefs  that  ta- 
ketb  bis  Name  in  vain. 

Q.  Wbat  is  required  in  tbe  tbird 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  thirdCommandment  re- 
quireth  the  holy  &:  reverend  ufe 
of  God'sN  a  me,  Titles.,  Attributes, 
Ordinances,Word  and  Works. 
Q.  Wbat  is  forbidden  in  tbe  ibird 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  third  Commandment 
forbiddeth  all  prophaning  or  a- 
bufingoFany  thing  whereby  God 
maketh  himfelf  known. 

Q^  Wbat  is  ibe  Reafon  annexed 
to  tbf  tbird  Commandment  > 

A.  The  Reafon  annexed  to  the 


Third  Commandment  Is,  That 
'however  theBreakersofthisCom- 
mandment  may  efcape  Punifli- 
ment  from  Men  yet  the  Lord  our 
God  will  not  fuffer  themtoefcape 
Iiis  righteous  Judgment, 
QWbichistbeJouribCotnmandment'* 
A>  The  fourth  Commandment 
isj&emcmber  tbf Sabbath- Day  tokeep 
it  Holy  fix  Daysjlwlt  tbou  labour  & 
do  alltbyWork.but  tbffcvcntbDay  is 
tbeSabfatb  of  tbe  Lord  tby  Gcdjn  it 
tboufoalt  not  do  any  work-,  tbou  nor 
thy  Son,  n  or  tby  Daughterly  Man/rr- 
vant,nor  tby  Maid  ffrvtMt*  nor  tby 
CattU,nor  tbe  Straager  that  is  witb- 
tn  tbyGates  -,for  infixDaysibcLord 
mtdeHeavcn  &  Lartb,  tbe  S«i,  and 
all  that  in  tbem  is,  V  re  fled  tbe  ft- 
vcntbDay>wbere}orc  tbeLord  b/ejj'fd 


tbfSabbat'h  Day,  and  balhwfd  if. 

Q.  What  is  required  in  the  fourth 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  fourth  Commandment 
jequireth  the  keeping  holy  to 
God  fuch  fet  times  as  he  hath  ap- 
pointed in  his  Word,  exprefly 
one  whole  Day  in  feven  to  be  an 
holy  Sabbath  to  Himfelf. 

QJtfbicb  day  of  the  f even  batbGvd 
appointed  to  bftbc  weekly  Sabbath  t 

A.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
World  totheRefurreftion  ofCbrifl 
God  appointed  the  feventh  Day 
of  the  Week  to  be  the  weekly 
Sabbath,  and  thefirft  Day  of  the 
Week  ever  fince,  to  continue  to 
the  end  of  the  World,  which  is 
the  Chriftian  Sabbath. 
Q.  Uow  is  tbtSabbatbto  befanStJied( 


A  The  Sabbath  is  to  be  fanftified 
by  an  holy  yeftingall  thatDay,e- 
veji  from  fuch  worldly  Employ- 
mems&Recreauons,as  arelawiul 
on  other  Days,  &  f pending  the 
whole  time  in  publickSi  private 
exercifes  o/God  sWorfhip,  except 
fo  much  as  is  to  betaken  up  in 
rheWorks  of  Necefllty8c Mercy. 
Q^  What  is  forbidden  in  the  fourth 
Commandment  > 

A.  The -fourth  Commandment 
forbiddeth  the  Omiffion  or  care- 
lefs  Performance  of  the  Duties 
reqaired,  fit  the  prophaning  the 
Day  by  idlenefs,  or  doing  that 
which  is  in  it  felf  "finful,  or  by 
unneceflary  Thoughrs,  Words  or 
Works,  about  worldly  Employ- 
ments or  Recreations, 


Q.  Wba  are  ikfRtafons  annex- 
ed to  tbe  fcunb  Commandment  £ 

A.  TheReafons  annexed  to  the 
fourth  Commandment-,  are  God's 
allowing  us  fix  Days  of  rheWeek 
for  our  own  Employments,  "His 
challenging  a  fpecial  Propriety  in 
the  feventh,1iis  ownExample,and 
his  blefling  the  Sabbath  Day. 
QjVbicbis  the  fifth  Comman  imcnt  '- 

A.  The  fifthCommandment  is 


thy  Days  may  be  Ion  a  upon  tbf  land 
which  fbf  Lord  tby  Godgiveib  thai. 

Q;   Wbat  is  required  in  tbejijtb 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  fifth  Commandment  re- 
quirefhfhe  prefervtng  theHonour 
8c  performing  the  Duties  belong 
Ing  to  eveiy  one  in  their  fevefal 


Places  and  Relations,  as  Superi- 
ours,  Inferiours,  or  Equals. 

Q.  What  is  forbidden  in  tbfjiftb 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  fifth  Commandment 
forbiddeth  the  neglefting  ordoing 
any  thing  againlt  the  Honour  and 
Duty  which  belongeTh  to  every 
one  in  their  feveral  Places  &  Re- 
lations. 

Q.  What  is  ibe  Reafon  annexed 
10  the  fifth  Commandment  ? 

A.  The  Reafon  annexed  to  the 
fifth  Commandment,  is  a  promlfe 
of  long  Life  &  Profperiry,(as  far- 
as  it  fhall  ferve  (or  God's  Glory 
and  their  own  gocd;  ro  all  fuch 
as  keep  this  Commandment. 
QWbith  is  thefixtbConHnaadfltiirf 

A.  The  fixth  Commandment  is. 


Thou  Jhalt  not  K///. 

Q.  What  is  required  l»  tbefixi  b 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  fixth  Commandment 
requireth  ail  lawful  Endeavours 
to  preferve  our  ownLife,and  the 
Life  of  others. 

Q;  What  if  forbidden  in  tbtjixtb 
Commandment  t 

A.  The  fixth  Command ment 
forbiddeth  the  liking  away  of 
our  own  Life,  or  the  Life  of  our 
Neighbour  unjuttly, and  whatfo- 
everfendeth  thereunto. 


feventhCommandment 

Q.  W bat  ii  rrqitirtd  in  ihe  ft- 
nw  Comwandmeni  ? 

E  A 


AThe  feventhCommandment 
requireththe  prefervation  of  our 
own,  and  oarNeighbour'sChalti- 
ty,  in  Hearr,Speech&Behaviour8 

Q.  What  it  forbidden  in  tbefc- 
Vtntb  Commandment  ? 

AThe  fevemhCommandment 
forViddeth  all  unchaftThoughts, 
Words  and  A&ions. 
QWbich  is  tbc  ei&ttbCoMmandm(nfl 

A.  The  eight  hCommandment 
is,  Thou  /half  not  Steal 

Q_  What  *f  required  in  tbe  c\$tf) 
Commandment  * 

A.  The  eighth  Commandment 
requireth  the  lawful  procutingSC 
furthering  theWeaith&outwaTd 
Eftateofour  felvesand  others. 
QWbrt  if  forbidden  in  ibt  eighth 
Commandment  ? 


A.  The  eighth  Commandment 
foibiddeth  whatfoever  doth,  or 
may  unjuftly  hinder  our  own,or 
our  Neighbours  Wealth  or  out- 
ward Ejtate. 
QWbicb  ii  the  nintbComman&mtnt 

A.  The  ninth  Commandment 
\SiTbouJhalt  not  bear  faJfeWitnefs 
again ft  tby  Neighbour. 

Q;  Wbat  h  required  in  ibe  ninth 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  ninth  Commandment 
requireth  the  maintaining  and 
promoting  ofTruth  betweenMan 
and  Man,  and  of  our  own,  &  our 
Neigh  nouTsgoodName,efpeciai- 
ly  in  Wrtnefs  bearing. 

(X  What  is  forbidden  in  the 
nintb  Commandment  ? 
^l-The  ninthCommandmentfor- 


bjddcth  whatfoever  is  prejudicl- 
altoTruthjOrinjurioustoourown 
orour  Neighbours  good  Name. 
QWhith  is  theTemhCommandmcntZ 

A.  TheTenth  Commandment 
is,  Thau/halt  net  covet  thy  Neigh- 
tour's  Houfc,  thoufhalt  not  covet 
thy  Neighbour  *  Wife,  nor  bis  Man 
fcrvant,  norhisMaidffrvant^nor 
his  OA-,  nor  his  Aff,  tor  any  thing 
that  is  thy  Neighbours. 

Q.  What  is  required  in  the  tenth 
Commandment  ? 

A.  The  tenth  Commandment 
requiteth  fuilContentment  with 
our  ovvnCQndition,with  a  right& 
cbarirableffameofSpitir  towards 
our  Nerghbour,&  all  that  is  his, 

Q^  Wh«  t  is  forbidden  in  ihe 
tenth 


^.TheTenthCommandment  for- 
biddeth  allDifcontentment  with 
OUT  own  eftate,envying  or  griev- 
ing at  the  good  ofourNeighhour, 
and  all  inordinate  motions  &  af- 
fe&icms  to  any  thing  that  is  his, 

Q  Is  any  Man  ab/t  pcrjetffy  to 
kttp  the  Commandments  of  God  ? 

A.  Nomeer  man  fincetheFall 
is  able  in  this  Life  peffeOly  to 
keep  theCommandmems  ofGod, 
but  daily  doth  break  them  in 
Thought,  Word  and  Deed. 

Q.  An  all Tranfgrejfions  of  tbf. 
JLtfw  equally  heintus  ? 

A.  SomeSins  in  theififelyeSjSc 
by  reafon  of  feveral  Aggravations 
are  more  heinous  in  the  fight  of 
God  than  others. 

Q,,  Wbat  dotb  evtryftn  dfff 


A.  Every  Sin  deferveth  God's 
Wrath  and  Curfe,  both  in  this 
Life,and  that  which  is  to  come* 

Q.  What  dctb   God  require  oj 
(/f.fhat  Wf  may  efcapeb'nW  rath  and 
Curfc^  due  unto  us  for  Sin  ? 
^Toefcape  rbeWrath  ScCurfe 
of  God  due  tons  for  Sin,  God  re- 
quiretb  of  usFaith  inTcfusChrifl1, 
Repentance  unto  Lire,  with  the 
diligent  ufeof  alloutwardMeans 
whereby  Chrilt  communicaretri 
to  us  the  benefits  ofRedemption, 

Q^  What  w  Faith  infeJusChnfc 

A.  Faith  in  Jefus  Chriit  is  a 
favingGrace, whereby  we  receive 
and  reft  upon  him  alone  for  Sal- 
vation, as  He  is  offered  to  us  in 
the  Gofpel 

QWbtt  isR(f(/itatJte  untoliftt 


'A.  Repenrance  unto  Life,  is  a 
faving  Grace,  whereby  a  Sinner 
out  of  a  rrue  fenfe  of  hisSin,and. 
apprcbcnfion  of  theMercy  ofGod 
in  Chrift,  cloth  whh  grief  ^  ha 
tred  of  his  Sin, turn  from  it  unto 
God, with  full  purpofeof,  &  en- 
deavour afrer  new  Obedience. 

QWhat  are  the  outward® 'ordina- 
ry means  wbcrcbyChriJl communion- 
telb  to  us  the  benefits  of  Redemption? 
A,  The  outwatd  and  ordinafy 
means  wherebyChrift  comrnuni- 
careth  to  us  the  benefits  of  Re- 
demption are  hisOrdinances,  ef- 
pecially  theWord^Sacramenrs  8t 
Prayer^  all  which  are  made  ef- 
fc£lual  to  theEleft  forSalvatiorr, 

Q.  Haw  is  the  ujordrnade  tffeftv&l 
29  Salvation  ? 


A.  The  Spirit  of  God  makerh 
Hie  Reading,  but  efpecially  rlie 
Preachingof'theWordaneffcau- 
al  Means  of  Convincing  &  Con- 
verting Sinners,  and  ot  building 
them  up  in  Holinefs  8c  Comfort, 
through  Faith  unto  Salvation. 

Q^Hcw  is  tbfWord  to  be  R*<rd  and 
heard  that  tt  may  become  effectual 
to  Salvation  ? 

ThattheWord  may  become 
effectual  toSalvafion,wemuft  at- 
tend thereunto  with  diligence, 
Preparation  5c  Prayer,  receive  ic 
wit hFaith&Love5lay  it  up  in  our 
Hea,rts,&praftice  it  in  our  Lives. 

Q:  How  doin  ;be  bacramcnis  be- 
come eff eft ual  means  of  Salvation? 

A.  TheSacraments  become  ef- 
feftual  Means  of  Salvation,  not 


from  any  vertue  in  them.orinhim 
that  dotk  adminiltet  them,  but 
only  by  the  bleflingofChrift,and 
the  working  of  rheSpirit  in  the;n 
that  by  Faith  receive  thetft, 

Q^  Wbat  is  a  Sacrament  ? 

A,  A  Sacrament  is 'ail  hf>ly Or- 
dinance instituted  by  Chriit, 
wherein  by  fenfihleSigns,Ch_riIt 
and  t  be  Benefits  of  theNewCove- 
nanr  afe  iepreftnred,fealed,  and 
applied  to  Btlicvers. 

Q.  Whifbare  tfo  Sacraments  of 
ibs  JVrw  Tcflament  * 

A.  TheSacramentsoftlieNew 
Teftaraenr,  are  Baptifm,  and  tiie 
Lord's  Supper. 

Q.  'Wbat  is  Bapiiftn? 
-4.Baptifm  isaSacrament,where- 
in  by  wafhiog  withWater  in  the 


NameoftheFather,8coftheSon, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghoft,  doth  fig- 
mty  and  fealour  ingrafting  into 
Ctuift  &  partaking  of  the  bene- 
fits of  theCovenant  ofGrace,and 
our  Engagement  to  be  rheLord's. 

Q.  To  whom  isftaptifm  to  be  ad.* 
tniniflrtd  ? 

A  Baptifm  is  not  tobeadmini- 
(tred  to  any  that  are  out  of  the 
vifible  Church,  rill  they  profefs 
their  Faith  in Chri(t,and  Obedi- 
ence to  Him,  but  the  Infants  of 
fuch  asareMembersofthe  viiible 
Church  are  to  be  Baptifed. 

C^.  What  is  fa  Lord's  Supper  ? 
A.  TheLord's  Supper  is  a  Sacra- 
ment, wherein  by  giving  and  re- 
ceivingBread  &  W 5 ne  according 
to    Chrift    Appointment,    His 


Death  is  fhewed  forth,  and  the 
worthy  Receivers  are  not  after  a 
corporal  and  carnal  Manner,  but 
by  Faith  made  Partakers  of  His 
Body  &  Blood,  with  all  hishene- 
firs,  to  their  Spiritual  Nourifh- 
rnentand  growth  in  Grace. 

Q^  Wbaf  is  required  in  jb(  wor- 
thy receiving  of  tbt Lord's  Sapper? 

A.  It  is  required  of  rhem  that 
would  worthily  partake  of  the 
Lotd'sSupper,that  they  examine 
themfelvesof  tlieirKnowIedge  to 
difcern  the  Lord'sBody,of  iheir 
Faith  to  feed  upon  Him, of  their 
Repentance,Love,&:  new  Obedi- 
ence,lettcomingun  worthily, they 
eat  and  drink  judgment  to  them- 
felves, 

Q.   What  is  Prayer  ?. 


A  Prayer  is  an  offering  up  of 
our  Defircs  to  God, for  Things  a- 
greeable  to  HisVVill,in  theName 
ofChrilt,with  Confeflion  of  our 
Sins,  and  thankful  Acknowledg- 
ment of  his  Mercies 

Q;  What  Rufe  h*tbG0<l  given  for 
our  Dirftfwn  in  Prayer  t 

A  ThewholeWord  of  God  is 
of  ufe  to  direct  us  in  Prayer,but 
the  fpedal  Rule  of  Direction  is 
that  form  of  Prayer  whichChrift 
taught  Hfs  Difciples,  commonly 
called,  The  Lord's  Prayer, 

Q  Wbat  dot])  tbePrsfocf  of  ibe 
"Lord's  'Prayer  teach  us  ? 

A.  The  Preface  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer, which  \$,OurFatb(r  ixbicb 
<z//i/rl/(ftfvr/f,teacheth  us  tod  raw 
near  to  God  with  ail  holy  Reve- 


rence.anSConfidencejasCh) 
to  aFather,able  &  ready  to 
u$,and  that  we  (hould  pray  \ 
and  for  others. 

QWbat  do  Defray  for  in  MffirJlPeti 

A.  InthefirftPetition,which 
Hg/Iomtd  bt  ihy  Name,  we  pr* 
that  God  would  enable  us  and 
thers,  to  glorify  Him  in  all  t 
whereby  lie  make?himfelfkn< 
and  that  He  would  difpofe 
things  to  His  own  Glory. 

QlPbat  do  vtfrayfor  in  tt>t  ^nd  Pettt 

A-  In  the  fecond  Pethion,whicn 
iSiTbyKixgdvm  come,  we  pray  rhat 
Satan'sKingdcm may  bedcitroy- 
ed,theKingdcm  of  Grace  may  be 
ad  vanced,Gurfe,'ves  Mothers  bro*t 
into  it,  &  kept  in  if,  &  that  the 
Kingdom  ofGlorymay  be  haftned. 


Wlat  do  we  fray  for  in  tbe 
Pttltion  ? 

In  the  thirdPetition,which 
oy  Will  bt  done  onEnrtb  as  it  is 
favcn^wz  pray,  that  God  by 
Grace, would  make  us  able  8c 
ling/to  know,  obey  &  fubmit 
his  Will  in  all  things,  as  the 
els  do  in  Heaven. 

at  do  we  pray  for  inthe^thPelilion 

a  the  fourth  Petition,  which 

ve  us  fbisDay  our  daily  Bread, 

pray,  that  of  God  s  free  Gift 

wemay  tece.veacomperentPorti- 

on  of  the  good  things  of  tbisLife, 

and  enjoy  his  blefling  with  them. 

QWbat  do  we  pray  far  in  (he  tfbpet'ition 

AIn  the  fifth  Petit  ion.,  which  is, 
And  forgive  vs  our  Dfbts;  as  we 
forgive  our  Dcbtonwe  pray,that 


God,  for  Chrift's  fake,  would  freely 
pardon  all  our  fins,  which  we  are 
rather  encouraged  to  afk,  becaufe 
by  his  grace  we  are  enabled  from  the 

D 

heart  to  forgive  others. 
O.  What  do  we  pray  for  in  the  j.th  petition  ? 
A.  In  the  fixth  petition,  which  is, 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but 
deliver  us  from  evil,  we  pray,  that 
God  would  either  keep  us  from 
being  tempted  to  fin,  or  fupport  and 
deliver  us  when  we  are  tempted. 
Q.  What  doth  the  conclusion  of  the 
Lord's  prayer  teach  us  ? 
A.  The  conclufion  of  the  Lord's 
prayer,  which  is,  For  thine  is  the 
kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory 
forever,  Amen,  teacheth  us  to  make 
our  encouragement  in  prayer  from 
God  only,  and  in  our  prayers  to 

[Restoration  of  lacking  text] 

77 


praile  him,  afcribing  kingdom,  pow- 
er and  glory  to  him,  and  in  tefti- 
mony  of  our  defires,  and  afsurance 
to  be  heard,  we  fay,  Amen. 


[Restoration  of  lacking  text~\ 

78 


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